Painted Sky
by narutogoddess
Summary: High School AU. Tenten-lonely artist looking for belonging. Neji-lonely artist with all the belonging and friends a guy could ask for and a broken past. For years, Neji kept a record of all the girls he played with, and he documented the events perfectly. His friends tell him his actions are wrong, but he doesn't care. Tenten may be able to change him back to the way he used to be
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Tenten

Growing up, she was almost always alone. Being the granddaughter of the Prime Ministers and the daughter of Konoha's most respected lawyer did that to you. She had a few friends from elementary and middle school, but once Tenten began high school, she began to see less and less of her friends. She didn't mind being alone, she liked the isolation she faced everyday walking through the halls, sitting at home, or going out on the weekends. It gave her time to be creative.

Tenten had a passion for art. Mostly she drew, but she also dabbled a little in photography. The human form fascinated her, and being able to capture it in motion, gave her so much joy.

For months, Tenten's parents argued about how isolated their daughter had been lately. They noticed that she didn't hang out with friends, or talk to anyone. She was always buried in her sketch book, or her laptop editing photos. Something needed to change. So, like any good parent, they talked to her first.

Tenten was sixteen, and like every teenager, she disagreed with her parent. She explained to them how much she actually liked being alone, and the reasons behind her feelings. They still disagreed. "Honey, you need to make friends." She mother told her every morning.

"I have friends," she always responded. She didn't.

Finally, her parents decided that a change was needed, so they had Tenten transfer from her long time private school, to a public school. On her first day at Konoha High, her mother got her up extra early, to do her hair and make-up for her.

Tenten was having none of that. She went back to sleep.

On the way to school, her mother just talked and talked, Tenten on half listened. "Make lots of friends, okay? I wish you would have let me do your hair and make up for you, don't you get sick of the same two buns and black eyeliner every day?" She didn't. "They have lots of different art classes you can take here. Do you have your schedule? You have all your school supplies right?"

Tenten tried to draw a little, but the ride was bumpy and it was too hard to control her movements. "Yes mom, I have everything, and I'm probably not going to back any new friends…it's the middle of the year."

"Tenten, it's the first day of the new semester, you'll be fine!"

Her mom pulled up to the side entrance of the school. She climbed out of the car and slammed the door before her mom could yell, "I love you sweetie!" Tenten looked around, there were a few inviting trees she could sit under at lunchtime.

She started on the path to the door, but was stopped when from a distance she could hear a loud booming approaching her fast. She spun around fast to see a black car speeding, much too fast, through the parking lot. The car was covered completely in stickers. She could only make out a few; Green Day, Pierce the Veil, and a few other probable band stickers. The car pulled into its spot, and all at once, five guys climbed out. Close behind, a red car, going the same speed, with the same booming music followed and pulled into the spot next to them and five girls climbed out.

A blond guy ran up to the driver of the red car and picked her up and spun her around before she got the chance to lock her car. Another girl, one with pink hair wrapped her arms around one of the guys and they started towards the building.

Tenten couldn't stop staring at the group that approached her, they seemed…perfect, but not in the sense that her prestigious parents would deem perfect…perfect as in, they were exactly where she belonged. The girls laughed at something that the blond guy had said as they passed Tenten. She followed them into the building, listening carefully to their conversation.

"Did you fuck her, Neji?" asked the guy with the pink haired girl hanging on him.

"Yeah," was Neji's answer, "kinda boring though."

"That's a shame," said another one of the guys, this one with a tall ponytail sticking straight up, "she wasn't ugly."

The group turned a corner before Tenten could hear the rest of their conversation. She sighed, and pulled out her schedule from her purse. She wandered around for a little, in search for her homeroom. She found it just in time for the bell. She quickly took a seat in the back of the room and set her books on her desk. Students started to file in and take their own seats, following Tenten's previous actions, then turning to talk to their friends.

The teacher entered into the room and wrote her name on the bored. The bell rang. "Good morning everyone! Welcome back, I hope you all had a good, long weekend. For anyone that may be new to my homeroom due to a schedule change, my name is Kurenai Sensei-" she was interrupted by another student entering the room. She glared at him for a moment then said, "It's the first day of a new semester Neji, try not to continue your habit of being late."

"Sorry Kurenai Sensei. I got a little lost on my way here."

"You've been in my homeroom since you were a freshman, I highly doubt that you forgot how to get here over your weekend. Take your seat Neji."

He did as Kurenai instructed, but Tenten couldn't take her eyes off of him. He was definitely the one driving the black car earlier, but she hadn't gotten a good enough look at him until just now. His long hair reached his lower back, but was tied off at the end. His eyes were hypnotic…completely white. Her eyes studied the rest of his face. He had a small silver hoop piercing the side of his nose, and two other hoops punctured the left side of his bottom lip. He reached up to brush a strand of stray hair away from his eyes and the sleeve of his leather jacket fell to reveal white scars all over his wrist. _Oh…_

The teacher took attendance and reiterated school rules and policies to the class. She finished with ten minutes to spare, and the rest of the period was left to the students. The girl in the desk next to Tenten leaned over and tapped her on the shoulder. "You must be new," she smiled, "I'm Hinata."

Tenten looked up to meet her eyes. They were just as white as Neji's. "I'm Tenten," she replied.

"I noticed you looking at Neji." She whispered. "He's single."

"I-I'm not looking for..." she blushed.

Hinata laughed, "I know, I'm just teasing you. Neji has that effect on everyone, it's kind of annoying to be honest."

"What are you talking about?" Tenten looked up to see Neji approaching the two of them. He took a seat on top of Hinata desk and ruffled her hair. She then his hit had away in retaliation.

"It's nothing. Neji, this is Tenten, she's new."

He nodded to her, then turned his attention back to Hinata. "Naruto, Sasuke and I are going to the point at lunch, wanna come?"

"Are you just inviting me or are you inviting Sakura and Ino too?"

"If you wanna drive them they can come too."

"Yeah sure we'll go."

Tenten didn't want it to appear that she was eavesdropping so she opened her sketch book and shaded and old drawing she started but never finished. She had never gone to the point, but she knew what it was. The seniors at her old school went there a lot to make out with their significant others, or to drink and do drugs. Sometimes parties were even held there.

"Sasuke lost his stupid nose ring in the parking lot on Saturday. He wants to go look for it before it closes up again."

"Why didn't he and Sakura go look yesterday?" she asked.

"Apparently he was too hungover to leave his room without his parents realizing something was up, so he just didn't."

"Typical."

The bell signaling the end of homeroom sounded over the intercom, and students fled from the room. Tenten was alone again. She sluggishly gathered her things and headed toward her next class.

Neji

"Jesus Christ Sasuke, how the fuck do you keep losing this stupid thing!?" Naruto complained.

"Not my fault. Sakura keeps knocking it out."

She giggled at the comment while everyone else gagged.

"Where were you when it fell out?" Ino asked as she scanned the black top.

"You expect me to remember that? I was so wasted I don't even remember what Sakura and I were doing."

His girlfriend frowned at him. "Let's not make that a habit."

"Found it," Neji interrupted, bending down to pick up the black hoop.

Sasuke took the piece of jewelry from him and attempted to push it through the hole in his septum. "Fuck, it closed again!"

Everyone rolled their eyes. "Come on," Neji sighed, "I've got a needle in my car."

Back at the cars, Sasuke laid back on the hood while Neji and Naruto cleaned the needle and clamp with rubbing alcohol that Ino had in her work bag. They climbed up on the hood, next to Sasuke and without warning Neji shoved the clamp into Sasuke's nose and moved it around a little, watching for where the closed hole entered and exited. "Don't lose this one, okay? I'm getting sick of redoing this for you every time Sakura gets a little too rough on your face."

Sasuke laughed from deep in his throat. "You're just jealous you don't get lucky as much as I do."

"That's an inaccurate statement."

"You should watch what you say dumbass," said Naruto, "Hyuga's holding a needle to your face after all."

Sasuke didn't say another word. Neji continued to inspect the old nose, making completely sure that he wasn't going to fuck it up. He took the needle from Sakura and lined it up to Sasuke's nose. He didn't even warn Sasuke, or tell him to take a deep breath. He just shoved it right through.

"Ow! What the fuck was that for you jack ass!" He sat up, the needle still hanging from his septum.

Neji put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder and pushed him back down, "I told you to lay back. You're gonna pass out if you don't."

"Well this is an exciting first day back to school," Ino sighed from her place against Hinata's car.

"I think there's a new student," said Naruto. "She's in my math class."

"Yeah, she's in mine and Neji's homeroom," Hinata answered. "She seems nice. Her name's Tenten."

"Yeah she's in my Government class," added Sakura. She looked at Neji, who then glanced up at her to acknowledge that he was listening, "she was sketching the entire time. She was pretty good too."

"Sounds like someone else we know," Sasuke glared at his friend that hovered over him.

Neji didn't answer any of them. He pulled the needle out from Sasuke's nose, then took the black ring from him and slid it gently through the fresh hole. "Don't lose this one," he reiterated.

Sasuke attempted to sit back up, but was pushed back down by both Neji and Naruto. "I think you want to pass out," Naruto glared.

They all leaned against the windshields of Neji and Hinata's cars and watched the frozen lake in front of them. "I'm assuming we're not going back to school anytime soon?" Sakura asked.

Everyone shrugged, "We all have an open hour anyways, who cares?" said Naruto.

"I'm going back for art class," said Neji.

"Shocker…" Sasuke raised his eyebrow sarcastically.

"Are you banging the art teacher too?" Naruto teased.

Neji grinned in response, "No. Not her."

"Which one this semester?" Ino asked.

"His calculus teacher for sure," Hinata rolled her eyes. "I've seen her car in his driveway more times than I can count."

"How does your mom not give a shit about any of this!? My parents are on my ass all the time, just about having Sakura over!"

"Yeah, same! Every time Hinata leaves, my mom and dad back me into a corner with the sex talk!" Naruto yelled.

Neji shrugged. "She's never home. She doesn't know."

"Have you ever thought about what would happen if someone found out about all your teacher student affairs?" Sakura asked.

"It wouldn't be my problem. They're the ones sleeping with a minor."

"I don't think that's a very healthy attitude to have on the matter…" Hinata voiced her opinion.

"It probably wasn't very healthy that he got his tenth grade science teacher fired either," said Sasuke. "Just because you didn't like the bitch didn't mean you had to seduce her, then tell on her."

"I didn't tell on her."

"Oh, I'm sorry. You purposely had your mom walk in on the chick on top of you, then let her jump to conclusions. Pretty evil if you ask me."

Neji shrugged. "She had it coming. I wasn't the only one she was 'taking advantage of', I only saved all the other students from being her victim."

"That's only half true, and you know it," Ino corrected. "Sure, she was the one that came onto you and all the others, but you always have the power to say now, and you probably shouldn't have set her up like that."

"It was a good way to pass the time."

"Why do you like teachers anyways?" asked Naruto. "I don't get the appeal. Not that I have eyes for anyone other than Hinata, but I still don't get your view."

"Experience. They know what they're doing."

"But there's no genuine connection that way," said Naruto. "It's a hundred times more fun when you're doing it with someone you love." He grabbed Hinata's hand and kissed her cheek.

"Tried that. Didn't like the outcome."

Everyone immediately silenced as they remembered back to freshman year, back to when most of them hardly even knew each other, before Naruto and Hinata started dating, before Ino transferred to Konoha High, before Neji changed.

Sakura was the first to speak, "why are you still letting that run your life?"

"I'm not. I'm over it."

Nobody wanted to argue with Neji, if they had said one wrong word, everything would fall apart. So they chose to stay silent.

 **A/N: Please review! I'd love to hear what you think so far!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Neji

The drive back to school was silent. The guys knew that they had pushed Neji's buttons a little too far, but they couldn't say nothing.

Sasuke rode shotgun, he texted Sakura in the other car the entire time. Anything to avoid Neji's current attitude. His phone buzzed, a text from Naruto that read; I'm scared.

Sasuke almost laughed…almost, instead he turned back to look at his best friend. "I'm right here, stop texting me."

Naruto shook his head fast, then texted him again; No! Neji scares me!

"Naruto, knock it off!" Sasuke unbuckled himself and jumped into the backseat. He grabbed Naruto's hair in his fist, and Naruto did the same, all while flailing and screaming at Sasuke to get off of him.

"Do you guys wanna walk back to school?" Neji threatened.

"No sir!" they froze. Sasuke climbed back up to the front seat and buckled himself back in.

"Sorry about earlier, Neji…" Sasuke tested the waters.

Neji knew what he was apologizing for, but he didn't want to think about it again, so pretended as if Sasuke was apologizing for losing his nose ring…again. "Just don't let this one close up."

Sasuke nodded and returned to texting his girlfriend.

Both cars pulled into their regular spots just in time for the fifth hour bell to sound. "Better hurry," said Ino, "Asuma Sensei hates it when we're late!" She ran through the halls, joining Shikamaru, and Choji at the classroom. Sasuke and Sakura both turned down the science hallway and made out until a teacher told them to get to class.

Naruto kissed Hinata goodbye, then she followed Neji down the art hallway until he needed to drop her at the music room. "You're coming to dinner tonight, right?" she asked sweetly.

"Yeah."

"Father and mother probably want to talk to you about the company again."

"Yeah, I know. I'm not going to give them any different answer then what I've told them before."

She nodded, "I know that. They're very persistent."

"Your better suited than me anyways." He lightly punched her shoulder.

She grinned, "I don't know about that, but…"

"I'll bring it up to Uncle again. He probably won't listen."

"But it doesn't hurt to try."

"Yeah. Have fun in choir." He retreated down the hallway to the art room and entered quietly. He set his stuff down at his usual table, then went to the cabinet to grab is drawing board. He turned around to see the new girl have a conversation with the teacher. He froze momentarily when his teacher pointed her in the direction of his table. He always worked alone, everyone knew that.

"Hey," she said, "Neji right? We have homeroom together. I'm Tenten."

He nodded and set his board down.

"Wow, you're really good!" she smiled, taking notice to his half done sketch. "Hayley Williams?"

"Yeah. I've kinda had a thing for her forever."

"I would too, if I was a guy or liked girls. She's hot."

He nodded in agreement.

"So what's the assignment?"

He shrugged, "I don't know. I don't usually do what we're supposed to."

"Good, neither do I." She pulled out her sketch pad and opened to a blank page. She took her pencil to the white surface and scratched at it with her pencil. Neji took notice to how smooth and consistent her movements were. She knew what she was doing. "You must draw a lot," she mused.

"Not really…painting is my thing mostly."

"Yeah? I'm not really good at painting. Drawing and shading mostly, but I like photography too. I noticed your car this morning. I like all the stickers, well, the ones I could see at least. I like Pierce the Veil too."

Neji didn't know how to talk to this girl. She was so straightforward, no girl ever was with him. They were always super shy and nervous, unless they were Hinata, Sakura, Ino or Temari, but they were his friends. Tenten was a stranger.

"I saw a Green Day sticker too. What's your favorite band?"

"Pierce the Veil," he answered.

"Yeah they're really good. Fall Out Boy's probably my favorite. I like your piercings, I always wanted some but my old school, and my parents didn't allow it."

He nodded. "Where did you go to school?"

"Anbu Prep. It was kind of a drag. I hated it, but my dad's kind of important, so he and my mom insisted that I stay there."

"I know that feeling…my uncle's kinda important too. My cousin Hinata and I have to argue with him all the time about letting us stay in public school."

She nodded. "Yeah, it's annoying. The only reason they let me come here was because they didn't think I was social enough. They're hoping I make friends, but that probably won't happen. I'm not a big fan of people."

He grinned. Then his phone buzzed. He glanced at the message, it was only Sasuke so it must not have been that important. It was probably meant for Sakura anyways. Neji had lost track of how many times Sasuke had accidentally sexted him and not his girlfriend.

His phone buzzed again, and again.

"You might wanna get that," said Tenten, "it could be important."

He unlocked his phone and opened the messages Sasuke was sending him:

To Neji: Neji I need you!

To Neji: Goddammit Neji, text me back dammit!

To Neji: Sakura just told me something terrible! Help!

To Neji: Ugh! I'm freaking out man!

To Neji: I'm coming to get you!

"Dammit, Uchiha," he groaned, and then got up from his seat. He informed his teacher that he was going to the bathroom and left the classroom. He found both Sasuke and Naruto waiting for him at the end of the deserted hallway. "What's so important that you needed to pull us both out of class?"

"THIS!" he shoved his phone in Neji's face, causing him to back up. He took the device from Sasuke and he and Naruto began to read the texts between the couple.

To My Love: Hey Hinata, will you take me to the drugstore after school? My periods a few days late…I just wanna make sure.

To Sakura: WHAT!?

To My Love: Oopsies! That was supposed to go to Hinata…I guess you and I gotta talk…

Naruto burst out laughing, "You idiot, you knocked up Sakura!"

"Shut the fuck up! Do you want the whole school to hear!?"

Neji just watched them with annoyance. Once Naruto got the tears out of his eyes and the laughter out of his system, he said, "You don't need to worry about anything, man. She's on birth control and you've always got condoms with you. She's most likely not pregnant. Hinata's late all the time, it's nothing to worry about." Neji glared at Naruto, who gulped in response, "I-I mean…oh fuck it, Neji, Hinata and I bang, a lot! Get over it."

"I'm over it."

"But what if she is actually…" Sasuke couldn't finish the sentence.

"What are you idiots doing? Sakura told me she accidently sent you that text Sasuke. She's fine, she's not pregnant."

"How do you know?"

"She miscalculated. Her periods not late." Sasuke let out a sigh of relief. "Except, now she's freaking out because she thinks you hate her now."

"I'm done here," Neji rolled his eyes.

"Everything okay with your friends?" Tenten asked when Neji returned to his seat.

"Yeah." They continued to work in silence until the teacher announced that it was time to clean up. Neji slid his board back into its slot, and Tenten slid her sketch book back into her backpack.

"Do you know where Anko Sensei's calculus class is? I tried looking for it at lunch, but I couldn't find it."

"You're in calculus?" Neji asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. I know, it's kinda lame, being so far ahead, but I had tutors when I was really little, and I've always just been really good at math," she rambled.

"Yeah, I have it next too. I'll show you where it is, it's kind of hidden."

"Awesome, thanks Neji!"

The bell rang and immediately, the two of them left the art room, in hopes to beat the student rush. They almost made it to the classroom without any interruptions, but then a boy Tenten recognized from this morning as one of the one's that drove to school with Neji approached them.

"Hey Lee," greeted Neji, who then gave him a fist bump.

"Are we still on for tonight? Shikamaru said the stuff is ready."

"Already? That was fast."

"I know right. Apparently a bunch of people were waiting to buy, so he rushed everything, now he's got a bunch extra for the rest of us." Lee froze, taking notice to the stranger behind Neji. "Who's this?"

"Oh sorry," said Neji, "Lee this is Tenten, she's new."

"Hello Tenten! It's so nice to meet you, welcome to Konoha High!"

"Thanks Lee," she smiled.

"Anyways, I can't do anything tonight," Neji frowned, "Dinner with Hinata's family. So it's a no for her too."

"Thanks a shame…" Lee looked disappointed. "Oh well, there's always this weekend! I'll see you tomorrow, Neji!"

Lee took off in the opposite direction, then Neji turned to Tenten, "Sorry about that."

"What were you guys just talking about?" she asked cautiously.

"Nothing."

"Yeah, I figured you were talking about weed."

He glared at her.

"I'm not gonna tell anyone!" she defended.

"It's not a big deal. Everyone already knows."

"So Shikamaru's stuff is good then? The dealer at my old school got caught so…"

He stared at her, hoping to find any sign that she was just kidding. From what he could tell, she wasn't. "It's good," he final answered.

"Good to know," she grinned.

The arrived at their classroom and Tenten went to introduce herself to the teacher, while Neji took his seat in the back of the classroom. The girl that sat in front of him turned around and flashed a sweet smile. "Hey Neji."

"Hi Hotaru. How was the rest of your weekend?"

"I gotta be honest, I'm still a little hungover, but it was totally worth it." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a twenty. "Can you give this to Shikamaru for me? It's the rest of what I owe him from the party."

"Yeah." He took the girls money and stuffed it into his back pocket.

"My mom keeps bugging me about you," she laughed.

"Does she?"

"Yeah, all weekend she's been on my case. It's not like I can just tell her you were a one night stand, that'd be such a disappointment to her."

He grinned. "Don't get caught next time."

"There's gonna be a next time?" she challenged.

"We'll see."

"You act like it's your choice," she laughed. "You were fun Neji, but you and I both know you're not my type."

"That's for sure."

"It's a good thing my dad wasn't the one to catch us."

He grinned. "Your dad would have loved me."

"Oh definitely," she said sarcastically, "He just loves when I bring home guys with piercings and tattoos."

"I don't have tattoos, and what's wrong with piercings?"

She giggled, "nothing, but you know me, I gotta be with the star soccer player."

"I wonder how daddy would react if he found out everything you did this weekend?"

"He'd probably have an aneurism." Hotaru leaned closer, "the new girl looks promising. Definitely your type, Hyuga. I know you're always looking for new girls to corrupt."

"She talks a lot."

"Does she? Shame, because you and I both know how much you hate that." She turned around.

He leaned forward to whisper in her ear, "The star soccer player was at the party too. Shikamaru tells me he spent the whole night looking for you. Too bad you were with me already."

She turned back around, fast. "Are you serious?"

"Very. Apparently he was pretty jealous when he heard you and I had left together."

She smiled big. "Thanks Neji, that's exactly what I wanted."

He nodded.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey guys! I just wanted to say that in the last chapter, Ino was the one to tell the guys that Sakura wasn't pregnant. I was re-reading it and realized I forgot to say who was talking. Oopsies! Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter!**

Chapter 3

Tenten

When the final bell rang, Tenten ran to the exit as fast as she could. It wasn't that she had a bad day, her day was quite good actually; she just didn't want to be at school anymore. She found her mother's car parked in the same place she had dropped her off that morning.

"How was your first day sweetheart?"

"Fine."

"Did you make any friends?"

Before Tenten got a chance to answer, she saw Neji and Hinata exiting the building, with all their friends in tow. She watched their movements, internally hoping that they would notice her, and maybe wave. They didn't. Her mom drove off before she could see them get into their cars.

"No, not really."

"Were people nice to you?"

"Yeah."

"Good, I'm glad! Your father will be home for dinner tonight, isn't that great? He might be bringing his intern over as well."

Tenten's breath caught in her throat. "Intern?"

"Yeah, I don't remember his name, but he's pretty young. Your father thinks you'll like him."

Tenten doubted that. The last time she got along with one of her father's interns, shit hit the fan. She didn't want to go through anything like that alone again.

At home, Tenten immediately went up to her room to do homework. The faster she got it done, the faster should could go back to drawing or editing pictures. She looked to the clock mounted on her wall. It was already almost time for dinner, she hadn't realized how late it had gotten.

Tenten ran down the stairs into the kitchen to find her mother finishing up dinner, and her father taking off his jacket and setting down his brief case. "No intern after all, dear?" her mother asked.

"No, he had a prior engagement with his fiancé's family. Maybe another time."

Tenten sighed, relieved that the intern wasn't single.

"Hi Tenten, how was your first day?" he asked giving his daughter a hug.

"Good, I like it there."

"I'm glad. I can't wait to meet some of your new friends."

"No friends yet, dad."

"You'll make friends soon, no need to stress."

Tenten certainly was not stressing over making friends. She still didn't feel like she wanted them. All she needed was her sketch book, a pencil, her camera and her laptop.

"How was work?" Tenten asked her father, taking a stack of plates from the kitchen cabinets to set at the table.

Her father grabbed a handful of silverware and followed Tenten into the dining room. "It was a very interesting day. I had a meeting with the owner of Hyuga Corporations. He wanted to write his nephew into the plans of who takes over the company once he retires. He has two daughters of his own, one who's the same age as the nephew. I don't really understand why wants his nephew to take over and not his own daughter. The daughter must not be interested."

"Do you happen to remember the names of the kids?"

"Hinata and Hanabi were the daughters, and Neji was the nephew. Why? Do you know someone in their family?"

"Yeah," she replied, taking a steaming plate of food from her mom and setting it at the center of the table. "I met Hinata and Neji today. I have a few classes with Neji."

"He must be a fine young man. I'm a little shocked to hear that they don't attend private school."

"He seems nice. He doesn't really strike me as the business type though," she thought back to his piercings and weed smoking.

"Why do you say that? Is he focused mostly on sports?"

"Not exactly…he's in my art class. He's super good."

"You speak quite highly of him, considering you only met today," laughed her mother, "do you have a little crush on him?"

She scoffed, "as if. You know the only man for me is Canon."

"Tenten, you can't marry your camera," her father laughed.

"I can sure try."

Neji

"Neji, are you ready to go?" his mother called up from downstairs.

"Almost!" he called back. He wasn't really ready at all, he was too busy trying to finish a painting he had started when he was high. He decided being high was the only way he was ever going to finish it, so he pulled off his paint covered t-shirt, and jeans and tossed them in the corner. He pulled on his black slacks and button up shirt and let his hair down.

"You look nice," she said when her son came down the stairs. She held out her hand, "piercings."

"Do I have to?"

"You know your uncle doesn't approve."

"Then he really wouldn't approve of that tattoo Hinata has on her lower back."

"Neji Hyuga!"

"I'm kidding. She doesn't have a tattoo…not on her lower back anyways, Hiashi could see that."

She glared at him. "Piercings."

He gave in, and finally removed the three rings that usually resided on his nose and lower lip. He handed them to his mother and she set them on the kitchen island between two candles. "Don't accidently throw those away. I need them."

"You don't need piercings, you want them."

"I have an image to keep up, mother."

"Do you now? Does Sasuke have the same image? I saw his bull ring today, please stop piercing your friends."

"I didn't do it the first time. I just re-pierced him when it closed up."

"Which is how many times now? He loses that thing every other week it seems."

"Apparently we're supposed to blame Sakura for that."

"Gross. I don't wanna know what the two of them are doing."

He grinned, "No you do not."

She smiled up at her son, then licked her thumb and wiped it across Neji's cheek. He backed away and swatted her hand away. "Sorry sweetie, but I don't think you want red paint all over your face."

He shrugged. "Not if uncle's going to yell at me for it."

"Your uncle mean well, you know that."

"If he meant well," he answered, pulling on his jacket, "he would let Hinata take over the company and stop bugging me about it. She actually wants to do it."

The two of them exited their home and walked across the street, the short distance to Hinata's house. "Your uncle knows you would much rather be an artist, but it's also very unrealistic to make a living doing that, he only wants you to consider taking over the company."

"Maybe I'll die and my art will get super popular and make you a lot of money."

"Neji…" she scolded.

"Sorry, I forgot I'm not supposed to joke about death in our house."

Her lips pressed into a straight line. "It makes me worry about you."

"Mom, I'm fine. That was a long time ago."

"I know, I know…but I'm your mother, I'm supposed to worry, and after you father, I couldn't bare it to lose you too."

"I'm not going anywhere." He stepped up to the front porch and let him and his mom inside his uncle's large home. They were greeted by Hanabi, who was dressed much nicer than her usual jeans and t-shirt.

"Hi Neji, Hi Aunt Hiyeri! Everyone is in the dining room setting the table." They followed the middle schooler through the halls and to the dining room where Hinata was already seated.

"Hey," Neji said taking a seat next to her.

"Hi…" she whispered.

"Are you okay?" he whispered back.

She nodded and smiled up at him, "Yeah, I will be. Naruto and I just got into a little argument, that's all. It's no big deal."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I'm fine."

He nodded. Hiashi and his wife entered the dining room, said their hello's and took their seats at the head of the table. It was a quiet dinner, lots of small talk, and answering questions about school.

"Neji, I have to tell you," Hiashi started, "today I had a meeting with one of the company's lawyers to get your name officially on the documents that you'll be taking over the company when I retire."

He sighed, of course this happens. "Uncle, I've told you before, I really, really don't want to be the one to take over the company. Running a business is not my thing."

"This isn't up for discussion Neji, you're the only one that can do it."

He felt Hinata stiffen beside him. "Hinata would be much more suited than I."

"Hinata is a woman, in business, men do not take women seriously, and especially one's as soft as Hinata. Please understand nephew that you are the one your father and I wanted to run the company from the very beginning."

"Father, don't pull that card," Hinata pleaded, referring to Hiashi's guilt trip.

"I don't know what you mean, daughter. I only speak the truth. My brother and I always planned for Neji to be the one to proceed us."

Hinata took a deep breath. From her fight with Naruto earlier, and now this, she must be fighting really hard to hold it together. Neji put his foot over hers, comfortingly. "I don't want to be the one to do that."

"It's not up for discussion, Neji."

"I don't get to decide how I want to spend my own life? How is that fair?"

"It is your destiny, nephew."

"I'm done here," Neji said standing up. "Come on Hinata, let's go upstairs."

She followed her cousin sluggishly through the halls and up the stairs to her bedroom, where she closed the door behind them. "I hate when he gets like that," she said.

"Yeah, me too. What was your argument with Naruto about?"

"Nothing really, we just disagreed on something political."

He grinned, "That seems a little silly."

"Yeah, I know. That's okay, I'm used to it. Did you talk to Hotaru today?"

"Yeah."

"And?"

"And what?" he asked.

"Are you going to go out with her again?"

"No?"

"Why not? Hotaru's pretty, and she's a senior!"

"She's dumb."

"No she's not, she's on honor roll."

"So am I."

"That's what I'm saying Neji! She's perfect for you."

"No."

"Why not!?"

"Because," he started, "I never even planned to go home with her. She wanted to make the guy she likes jealous at the party and go home with him. Then we got drunk."

"Neji, you gotta stop doing that. It isn't good for you."

"Having one night stands? They're fun."

"Doesn't it get lonely?"

"No."

"One more thing to add to your bedroom ceiling?"

"They're not important enough to get up there."

There was a knock at the door. "Come in," Hinata called.

"Hinata dear," said her mother peaking her head through the crack between the door and the wall, "Could you help me with something quickly? It will only take a minute."

She nodded, "sure mother."

Neji followed them out of the room, then paced up and down the second floor hall. Hiashi approached him, then asked for Neji to join him on the balcony. He took the offer and followed his uncle outside.

"I'm glad you decided to take that jewelry out of your face."

"Only for tonight." He leaned against the white railing, and looked out into the backyard.

"I stopped at the school today to meet with one of Hinata's teachers, and I saw Sasuke, Shikamaru and Lee. I haven't seen them in a while, they've grown into nice young men."

"I guess," Neji replied, thinking of how high Shikamaru was the other night, and how wasted Sasuke was.

"Not a big fan of that thing Sasuke has hanging from his nose. It's worse than yours."

"Thanks?"

"And why did Shikamaru have an unlit cigarette hanging from his mouth? I can't imagine the school allows that."

"Temari made him read some book where the kid dying from cancer held an unlit cigarette in his mouth because it made him feel like he had the power to control whether it killed him or not by choosing not to light it. Shikamaru thought it was cool or something. Temari also likes the guy that played him in the movie, so I think Shikamaru got jealous."

"That sounds very unlike him." Neji would have agreed with his uncle if he hadn't known about the marijuana that fried his brain. "I know you probably don't want to talk about this…"

"Then don't ask."

He ignored his nephew's statement and continued his sentence, "It's been a long time since this happened, but I got a letter at the office today from your tenth grade science teacher. It was addressed to me, but it was definitely a letter meant for you."

"Okay, and?"

"I'm not going to give it to you, if that's what you're getting at."

"I don't want it."

"I just wanted to know if you were okay."

"Peachy."

"Neji, you went through a very hard time your first two years of high school."

"I'm fine, uncle." Neji had kept the truth about his relationship with that teacher hidden for over a year now, he wasn't about to spill it to his uncle now, as much as he didn't actually care whether he knew the truth or not. Playing the game was entertaining though.

"I believe you. Have you talked to Mika at all recently?" Neji froze. Her name was forbidden. His friends knew that, his mom knew that…so why didn't his uncle? Hiashi continued, "She was a very nice young lady, it's a shame your relationship with her didn't work out. You were quite young after all."

That bitch was the reason Neji acted out the way he did. It was her fault he refused to fall in love, her fault he slept with teachers, her fault he only had one night stands. She was to blame for all the partying, all the drinking and the drugs. She was the reason he tried to kill himself his freshman year. "I don't want to talk about her," he finally forced out through clenched teeth.

"Alright, I won't bug you about past relationships. I only wonder because I haven't heard of you being with anyone since her."

"There's been a few." It was technically a lie, he's been with many girls since Mika, just no one longer than one or two nights.

"Anyone I would know?"

"Ama Sensei."

"That's not funny, Neji. She was your teacher."

"Well she's in prison now, and not only because of me."

"That's true, there were many others."

"She liked me the best."

"Neji, it's not okay to joke about that. That woman is very sick, and she'd never going to get better."

"She's in prison, so I don't really care."

"You should care. It was a horrible thing she did to you and all the others."

Neji nodded, remembering that he enjoyed keeping this game going.

His mother came out onto the balcony and interrupted their conversation, "sorry you two, but it's getting late and there's school tomorrow. I think it's time we head home."

Neji nodded, pushing himself away from the guard rail and following his mother back inside.

"Did you finish all your homework or did you just start painting the second you go home from school?" she asked handing him his jacket.

"I finished my homework."

"Good. In about five minutes you'll be able to put your piercings back in, and finish whatever it was you were working on earlier. I can't wait to see it when you finish it."

They exited Hiashi's house and crossed the street to their own home. "Not sure I'm gonna finish this one. Not really feeling it anymore."

She nodded and locked the front door behind them. "Don't stay up too late, okay?"

"I won't. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Neji. I love you."

 **A/N: Review please!**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Tenten

The rest of Tenten's first week at Konoha High was uneventful. She liked her teachers, and most of the people that she met, but nothing made her want to leave behind her isolation. She liked her art class a lot, after a few days of getting into the swing of things, she finally found some inspiration and started an actual project. She liked sitting next to Neji, he wasn't horrible to talk to.

Over the duration of the week, a lot of people must have seen the two of them walking to class together, because she began to hear a lot of hushed whispers about "that new girl hanging all over Neji Hyuga." Tenten didn't mind at all, she always laughed at the rumors insecure girls started, especially the one's about her,

In her advanced science class, Tenten sat with Shikamaru's girlfriend Temari at one of the lab tables. "I heard a rumor about you in the hallway today," she said while they completed a lab. "It was kinda funny. One of chicks on the cheer squad was saying how he slept with you once, and now you can't leave him alone. Pretty sure she was just jealous, I think she's one of the ones he rejected."

Tenten grinned, "You're friends with him right?"

"Who Neji?"

Tenten nodded.

"More like friends by default. If Shikamaru and I weren't together, Neji and I would never talk, but because I'm with Shikamaru, I kind of have to be friends with all of them. Why do you ask?"

"I don't know," she replied, "does he do that a lot? Sleep with random girls?"

She laughed, "Oh yeah…It's like a game for them…to see which friend gets to sleep with him next. Almost every girl in school has either slept with him, or their best friend has. He's the holy grail of hook ups."

Tenten didn't know what to say, so she kept the questions going. "He's never had a real girlfriend?"

"Not since I've known him. Shikamaru says he did during their freshman year, apparently Neji doesn't talk about it, so I assume it must have ended badly. Shikamaru won't even tell me the details, bro code or something."

The bell rang for lunch, and Temari led Tenten through the halls and to the lunchroom. She usually ate her lunch outside, but today she was feeling uncharacteristically social and Temari invited her to sit with her group of friends.

Hinata and Sakura were already at the table, chatting away. Hinata was the first to look up, "Hey Temari, Hi Tenten!"

Tenten waved awkwardly.

"I was beginning to wonder when you'd have lunch with us," Sakura smiled at Tenten.

"Yeah, sit down!" Hinata added pulling out a chair for her.

One by one, more and more people were added to the table. First was Lee, then Sasuke and Shikamaru. Ino followed Neji and they took their seats at the opposite side from Tenten. Naruto was the last to arrive, and like any other time she'd seen him, he was screaming about something.

"Please tell me somebody's having a party tonight!"

Shikamaru shrugged, "I dunno man. Nobody's asked me to supply anything."

"Aren't you still recovering from last weekend?" asked Ino, "my head is still spinning."

"He bounces back fast," Neji mumbled before taking a bite of noodles.

"So do you," Sasuke mumbled back, "who's your next victim?"

Neji shrugged, then glanced up to meet Tenten's eyes. "Whoever comes onto me I guess?"

Naruto laughed, "Even Lenka?"

Neji glared at the blond, "No."

"She's hot," said Sasuke, who then received a slap in the arm from his girlfriend. "She may be annoying, but she's almost as big a whore as you are."

"She just likes to piss off her daddy," said Sakura, "and nothing would anger her father more than if she went home with Neji."

"She's too crazy for Neji." Shikamaru commented. "Much too manipulative."

"Hasn't stopped him before," Lee commented.

Neji elbowed Lee in the ribs and replied, "I don't go for fangirls. They get too attached."

"You mean you don't go for girls who want anything more than sex," Sasuke corrected.

Tenten felt uncomfortable being involved in this conversation. She was alone with people that had been friends forever. They talked about things at lunch that she didn't think she should be overhearing. She began to gather her things to leave and go finish her lunch in the art room, but she was stopped when the entire table immediately stopped talking. They were all staring behind Neji, at someone Tenten recognized, but didn't know.

"Hyuga," the guy called. Everyone's eyes narrowed at the jock that was infiltrating their table.

Neji turned to face him and replied calmly, "What do you want, Inuzuka?"

"You know man, I thought we were cool, but then I hear you went a slept with my girlfriend?"

Neji stood up and closed most of the distance between himself and Kiba. "You're just hearing about this now?"

Kiba clenched his fists, and preparing to swing, when Hinata shot up out of her seat and yelled, "Kiba stop!"

He laughed, "Hinata, you're not my girlfriend anymore, stay out of this. This is between me and Neji."

Neji and Kiba continued to stare each other down, until Neji spoke again, "If you had just kept her satisfied, like a good boyfriend should, she wouldn't have come onto me."

"Shut the fuck up, Hyuga! You don't know shit about mine and Myru's relationship."

The rest of the cafeteria was beginning to take notice to the commotion, and had turned their attention to the face off. Tenten could see Myru off to the side, obviously debating with her friends whether or not she should stop this. Temari leaned over to Tenten and said, "I bet you're wondering what the story between those three are, right?"

Tenten shrugged, "I guess."

Ino leaned across the table and whispered, "About a year ago, Kiba and Myru started dating, but they got into a huge fight at the homecoming bonfire this year about how he never had any time for her, so they broke up for like, twenty-four hours. So, like every over emotional, horny chick at this school, she hooked up with Neji."

"Except Neji and Myru's thing went on for a while," added Sakura, "and Kiba must have just found out about it."

"They got in a fight in gym class today," said Naruto, "she probably told him about it then."

"The two of you were broken up," Neji stated.

"And you took advantage of her!"

"She came onto me. All six times."

Kiba was taken aback by Neji's comment, and Tenten could practically see the anger radiating off him. Myru began to approach the standoff, and Sasuke, Lee and Naruto stood up, sensing that they may need to step in as well. A few of Kiba's friends stood off to the side, also ready to jump in at any time.

"Say that again, I dare you."

"I don't think it's fair of you to be mad at me, when it was Myru that was screaming _my_ name instead of yours." At Neji's statement, Myru stopped in her tracks.

That did it for Kiba, it happened so fast, Tenten wasn't even sure she was seeing it correctly. Kiba's fist collided with Neji's cheek, and the entire lunchroom silenced at the noise. Neji stumbled, but collected himself quickly and returned the hit to Kiba's face. The jocks ran to Kiba to help him up off the floor. The girls jumped up from their seats to stop their boyfriends from getting involved.

"Sasuke, you know what Principal Tsunade said if you get into another fight!" Sakura reminded him, while pulling him back. Hinata did the same to Naruto.

Kiba jumped at Neji, but was pulled back by the collar by Gai Sensei. "What in the hell is going on here!?" he yelled at the two.

No one said anything.

Kakashi was the next teacher to get involved. "I'd expect this from Naruto and Sasuke, but you Neji? Really?"

Gai let go on Kiba's collar, glared at him, then ordered, "Both of you to the principal's office. Now."

Neji started to gather his things, and Kiba walked on ahead, escorted by Kakashi, while Gai waited for Neji. The entire cafeteria watched as the two of them were taken to Tsunade's office.

"That was intense," said Shikamaru.

"I didn't see you trying to back up your friend!" Naruto yelled at him.

In response, Shikamaru shrugged. "He can handle himself. There's no reason for me to get involved."

"Father's going to be so mad," Hinata sighed.

"If I were Neji, I'd be more scared of what his mom will say," said Ino. "Hiyeri's ruthless."

"Does this kind of thing happen a lot with you guys?" Tenten asked.

"More than it should," Sakura answered, all while glaring at Sasuke.

"Kiba's fucking stupid," said Naruto, "it was only a matter of time before someone put him in his place."

"I'm surprised he didn't find out about Neji and Myru sooner," Temari pondered, "literally everyone knows about their affair."

"Kiba's dense as fuck," said Ino. "Hinata, I'm so glad you chose Naruto over him."

"Kiba and I dated in middle school, it doesn't even count."

"He still likes to pretend he owns you," Naruto mumbled.

"Well you don't own her either, dumbass," Sakura scolded.

"I didn't say that I did!"

Tenten kept out of their conversation and turned to Temari, "Six times in one night or six times over the duration of some time?"

Temari laughed at her question, "I doubt Neji has that much stamina. But no, it was over a few months. Even after Myru and Kiba got back together, she kept seeing Neji 'cause Kiba's really a huge virgin and never put out."

"I thought Neji only had one night stands."

"Usually yeah, but Myru didn't get attached. She had all the relationship stuff with Kiba, and all the sex with Neji."

Tenten expected to see Neji in art class, but he wasn't there. He didn't show up for calculus either. She was beginning to think that maybe he got suspended for fighting on school grounds. She wanted to ask him about what Tsunade said, and what he thinks his parents will say.

When the final bell rang she headed straight for her locker, but stopped when she saw Neji and Kiba exiting the office. Kiba pushed past him and went in the other direction. Neji rolled his eyes, then stopped when he saw Tenten waiting. "Hey," he said.

"Hi." They stared at each other for what Tenten thought to be long enough to make it awkward, "I um…" she stumbled over her words and flipped quickly through the stack of notebooks she had in her arms, "I have calc. notes for you."

"Thanks, you didn't have to do that."

"I wanted to," she handed him the pages she had ripped from her notebook at the end of class.

He took them from her and said, "You could have just sent me a picture."

"I don't have your number."

He nodded his head in the direction of Tenten's locker. "We'll have to change that." He followed her down the hall and stopped when they reached their destination. "You're lockers pretty close to homeroom, that's convenient."

"Yeah," she replied, opening her locker and taking out her coat. "Did you get in trouble?"

"Lunch detention all next week. Not a big deal."

Tenten opened her purse to take out her phone and call her mom to come pick her up, but Neji snatched it out of her hand to moment she unlocked it. "Hey!"

"Calm down, I'm just putting my number in." He handed the phone back to her and said, "Not sure how likely it'll be that my mom lets me leave the house, but if she does, do you wanna come to a party this weekend?"

"I'm not much of a partyer." She replied.

"Neither was I until I went to one. It'll be fun, and since it's your first one, I'll make sure you don't get shitfaced."

"I didn't say it was my first party." She closed her locker and followed Neji through the halls to the exit. "And who's going to be the one to make sure _you_ don't get shitfaced?"

"I have self-control."

"Could've fooled me."

He grinned, "So it's not your first party?"

"No. I use to go to college parties a lot…with my ex."

He mocked her, "Ooh, college guys. I wouldn't have pegged you as someone who screws older men."

"You shouldn't be the one to make fun of me for screwing people older than me."

"Fair enough."

"How can you just talk about that stuff so openly? I keep that stuff to myself."

"No point in trying to hide it when everyone already knows," he stated as a matter of fact. "I'm sure Temari's told you a lot of stuff about me."

"Not particularly. Only what I asked."

"So you've asked around about me?" he grinned.

"I heard some rumors and I was curious."

"Like what?"

"Who's Ama Sensei?"

"A teacher who used to teach pre-calculus here. She showed a special liking to her male students."

"And you were one of them?"

"Kind of."

She looked at him questioningly.

"I'll tell you more about it if you come to that party with me tomorrow night."

They stepped outside, and Tenten immediately shivered at the sudden gust of cold winter air that hit her in the face. "I'll think about it."

"Good. I'll pick you up at eight." Before she could get in another word, he was already crossing the parking lot to join his friends at his car.

"I didn't say that I would go!" she called after him.

He grinned back at her, and climbed into the driver's seat.

She looked down to find her mother's car parked in front of her. She pulled open the door with an aggravated sigh.

"How was your day sweetie?"

"Just peachy."

 **A/N: I don't totally love this chapter, but I tried. Hopefully the next update will be better! Don't forget to review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I apologize in advance for the extremely ridiculous length of this chapter...I was having a hard time getting it to go anywhere, but I think I managed to not make it completely boring. I also apologize for any typos that you come across, I am much to lazy to fix them. Enjoy!**

Chapter 5

Neji

"Neji Hyuga, if I have to get one more phone call about you or your friends getting into a fight at school, I'm going to kick your ass myself!"

"It wasn't my fault."

"Nothing ever is, is it?" Hiyeri glared at her son and crossed her arms across her chest.

"I'm glad you understand." He began to stand up from the couch but his mother pushed him back down.

"I'm not finished. This behavior in unacceptable and you know it. What happened?"

"You know Myru?"

"Yes."

"It was about her."

"You were fighting over a girl? Seriously? You're better than that."

"We weren't fighting _over_ her per say…"

"Then why were you fighting with Kiba?"

"He punched me first."

"I don't care. You should have just walked away."

"You don't want me to defend myself?"

"Not if it involves fighting! I'm not gonna ask again, what happened?"

Neji sighed, and Hiyeri took a seat on the coffee table in front of her son. "Kiba found out that Myru and I hooked up a few times, he got mad."

She put her head in her hands and groaned. "Neji, how many times does this have to happen? I told you, you cannot keep doing this to girls."

"She's the one that suggested it. Kiba wasn't putting out, so she came onto me."

"You can always say no."

"Why would I do that?"

Hiyeri rubbed her temples in frustration. "Neji, you're seventeen and you've had more sexual partners in two years than most people have in their entire life. You need to stop."

He crossed his arms in annoyance and frowned.

"Let me rephrase," she started, "you're a teenager, I don't expect you to refuse sex with a cute girl, especially since I know for a fact that you've always been safe, but this is unhealthy. Is there something else going on that you need to talk about?"

"No."

"You've been through a lot, Neji. Your father, Mika, that teacher of yours…If you need to see someone, you need to tell me."

He cringed at the mention of his ex-girlfriend, but responded anyways, "I'm fine."

She glared at him again. "Obviously not if you're fighting with someone about a girl you hooked up with once."

"How do you know it was only once?"

"Because I know you."

"Well, you're wrong. Myru and I hooked up multiple times."

"Do you have feelings for her?" she asked, still trying to understand Neji's motives.

"No."

Hiyeri sighed in defeat, "Okay, we're not getting anywhere with this. You're grounded for fighting, so you can forget about going anywhere this weekend, and you'll be cleaning the garage and the basement."

"I have to go to Shikamaru's tomorrow night. We have a project due on Monday we haven't even started yet," he lied.

"Fine. Home by midnight."

"Mom, we'll be pulling an all-nighter. I'm going to have to sleep over."

"Fine…but if you come home high again, I swear to God…"

"Mom, I know I know, you're sending me to boarding school, I got it. Are we done now?"

"I guess, but that garage better be sparkling by tonight."

"Yes Ma'am." Neji stood up from the couch and retreated for the steps to go upstairs. He closed his bedroom door behind him and pulled out his phone. There was a text from Tenten: _How much trouble did you get in?_

To Tenten: I'm grounded and I have to clean the garage and the basement. Party's still on though.

To Neji: You got off easy, my parents would have shot me. You still want to escort me tomorrow night?

To Tenten: Of course. I have corrupting to do.

To Neji: I'm already pretty corrupted.

To Tenten: Tell me more.

To Neji: I don't tell people about myself. It forms trust.

To Tenten: What's wrong with that?

To Neji: I get hurt.

Neji wasn't sure how exactly to respond to that. No emoji would have been appropriate, and saying "k" was rude. He could just ignore it, or he could do what he swore to himself he'd never say to anyone, because _she_ promised him _she'd_ never hurt him.

To Tenten: I'm picking you up tomorrow at eight. Wear something revealing.

To Neji: It's the middle of winter!

To Tenten: That's what I'm here for.

To Neji: Don't flirt with me.

To Tenten: We'll be inside anyways. You won't be too cold.

To Neji: It's not at the point?

To Tenten: Nah. Those are parties for getting wrecked, and I promised you I'd make sure that didn't happen.

To Neji: You're a true gentleman. Where's this party gonna be then?

To Tenten: Shikamaru's. All the coolest people will be there.

To Neji: Then why are you going?

To Tenten: Ha. Ha. Very funny.

To Neji: *winking emoji*

He set his phone off to the side and threw his hair up into a higher ponytail. "Better get started on my punishment…" He ran down the stairs into the kitchen where his mom was preparing dinner.

"You better not be going anywhere!" his mom called after him.

"I'm cleaning the garage like you told me to."

"Good, get rid of the stuff you don't use anymore. I'm sick of seeing all those balls deflate in the bin."

"Yeah, yeah. Get rid of all the happy childhood memories, got it."

"Neji…" she glared.

"I'm kidding."

"Get rid of those empty paint cans too."

"I need those," he said sliding on his high tops.

"Why?"

"Because if I save them, I can refill them for cheaper."

"Do you really need them though? It's been a while since you've added to your ceiling."

"That's because nothing of importance has happened."

"Fine, just find a better place than the ground for them. Put them up on a shelf."

"Will do." He closed the door to the garage behind him, plugged his iPod into the stereo and began completing his punishment.

The next night, Neji pulled on the skinniest pair of jeans he owned, a Pierce the Veil t-shirt, his leather jacket, and his combat boots. He changed the stud in his nose back to the usual hoop, grabbed his sketchbook from his desk, and his phone charger, a change of clothes and stuffed everything into his backpack.

He took the stairs down to the living room two at a time and plugged Tenten's address into the GPS on his phone. He grabbed his keys from the bowl in the kitchen, and headed for the garage, but was stopped when his mother asked, "what time do you think you'll be home tomorrow?"

"Not before noon, most likely."

"You'll probably beat me home."

"Why? Where are you going?"

"Your uncle and I have a meeting about your father's portion of the business in Tokyo tomorrow morning, so we're going to drive down tonight and staying in a hotel."

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow afternoon then."

"Don't get into any trouble tonight okay? You're on thin ice."

"You got it." He locked the garage door behind him and drove his car across town to the address Tenten gave him.

Tenten

She climbed into the passenger seat and before pulling out of her driveway he said, "Your carriage has arrived, princess."

She glared at Neji for a moment before putting on her seatbelt. "Yeah…okay…so how many people are going to be at this party?" she asked.

"A lot."

"Very specific."

He grinned. Other than the new Ghost Town album that played over the stereo, the ride to Shikamaru's was quiet. Neji turned onto a street that was very recognizable to Tenten.

"I didn't know Shikamaru lived over here," she mused aloud. "My dad has a bunch of lawyer friends that live in this neighborhood."

"I guess you'll have to be on your best behavior then. Don't want anyone snitching o you to your parents."

"They wouldn't recognize me if they saw me here. My parents make me dress differently if I go with them to dinner with their friends or colleagues."

"My mom makes me do the same thing. I have to take out my piercings just to go across the street to my uncle's house."

Neji pulled into a driveway at the end of the street. Already, the streets were full of cars and loud music boomed from inside the house. Somebody Neji didn't know walked up to the front of the house and let themselves in, flashing lights pouring from the entrance.

"No parents I assume?"

"No, Shikamaru's parents are doctors and have to stay over at the hospital a lot."

Neji turned off his car and both he and Tenten approached the large house. Like the person before, they let themselves in. Neji smirked at the turn out almost immediately and kicked the door shut behind him. "Come on," he said taking Tenten's hand, "I'll show you around."

Tenten followed Neji closely, careful of her surroundings. She didn't know any of these people, until Neji brought her into the kitchen where everyone was waiting for them.

"Tenten!" Ino, Sakura and Hinata squealed, "You came!"

Neji dropped her hand to avoid the females that were about to pounce on her. He leaned against the counter picked up on the conversation that the guys were having. She looked around, there were a lot of people she recognized from school, people she never would have expected to see here.

Two girls stumbled into the kitchen laughing hysterically, already drunk. One of them stopped immediately after meeting Neji's gaze.

"Kiba's here, just so you know," one of the girls spoke.

Neji shrugged, "whatever."

"And Shikamaru's looking for you guys," the other girl said, "he's in the living room."

They all made their way through the crowd to find Shikamaru. They found him in the corner, Temari at his side, both smoking a blunt and talking to some of the soccer players.

As soon as their group got close enough, the soccer players scurried away to their girlfriends on the dance floor. "Welcome to my humble abode," Shikamaru yelled over the loud music to Tenten, "like all my guests, make yourself at home, what's mine is yours."

"Kankuro's actually playing good music tonight," said Naruto,

"The list we gave him helps," replied Temari.

At the DJ stand, the music took a brief halt and Kankuro got on the microphone, "This is for all you hardcore emo's out there." _Bulls in the Bronx_ by Pierce The Veil began to play, and everyone on the dance floor screamed.

Everyone looked at Neji who was smirking, and pulling off his leather jacket to reveal his t-shirt.

"Loser," Ino insulted jokingly, then she too pulled off her jacket to reveal her own Pierce The Veil shirt.

Neji took Tenten's hand once again and dragged her to the dance floor. She tried to fight him on his persistence to dance with him, but he wouldn't listen. "Come on, this is a good song, dance with me," he almost begged.

"I don't dance," she yelled over Vic Fuentes's screams.

"Too bad," Neji grabbed Tenten by the waist and pulled her closer to him. "One song."

She hesitated to go alone with his request, but gave in anyway, "fine, only one." Tenten turned her back to him and they began to grind to the beat of the song, just like everybody else was doing. This was totally out of her comfort zone, but it wasn't anything new to her. She saw Sasuke and Sakura making out on the other side of the room, all while dancing. Even Hinata and Naruto were jumping around the dance floor.

The song ended, and Tenten realized that dancing at a party wasn't as bad as she recalled from earlier experiences. She turned back around to face Neji and smiled shyly up to him. "That was fun," he grinned back.

She nodded, then the next song began to play. She gasped as she recognized the first three notes. _The Mighty Fall_ , by Fall Out Boy rang loudly through the speakers and she looked back at Neji again with pleading eyes.

"You wanna keep dancing?"

She nodded awkwardly and Neji extended his hand to her. She took it and he pulled her deeper into the crowd of grinding bodies. She lost track of time, and what started out as dancing to two songs turned quickly into ten, then twenty. At this point, everyone was dancing with each other, and girls were all over Neji. One girl had her hands up Neji's shirt while he sucked on her neck. Another girl pulled him away and shoved her tongue down his throat.

Ino and Tenten had been dancing together for a while now, but she quickly took notice to her new friend's discomfort. "This happens a lot," Ino told her, "I'd be overwhelmed if I were him."

Tenten frowned, but nodded in agreement.

"Don't let it bug you, he'll came back to you in a little while."

"That doesn't make me feel better."

"Yeah, I guess not. Do you wanna get some air?"

Tenten nodded and followed Ino out of the crowd and out the sliding doors in the back of the room to Shikamaru's back porch. Ino reached into her back pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, "you want one?" she offered.

Tenten declined her offer and leaned against the guard rail. She took one last breath of fresh air before Ino polluted it with cigarette smoke. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah what's up?"

"You've been friends with Neji a while, right?"

"Yup, sure have."

"Temari mentioned something to me the other day about Neji having a girlfriend freshman year, but Shikamaru wouldn't tell her anything. Do you know?"

Ino stilled, "All I know is that Neji doesn't talk about it. I moved to Konoha the summer going into sophomore year, so I didn't know him super well until then; after they broke up. What I gather, from the way everyone avoids that topic like it's the plague is that she broke his heart."

"Who was she?"

"No idea. She was gone by the time I got there. I think she was a senior. I think her names Mika." Ino finished her cigarette and dropped it on the ground to stomp it out. "Wanna go back inside?"

"Sure."

They slid open the door, but avoided the sex show happened on the dance floor. Sakura and Sasuke were sitting on the stairs about halfway up, sharing a drink.

"You know," Into teased, "you can get mono from that, right?"

"Shut up, Ino pig."

Tenten and Ino sat two steps down from the couple watched the crowd. Eventually, Naruto and Hinata came out from whatever they were doing upstairs and sat two steps up from Sakura and Sasuke. Lee followed them and announced that pizza would be there in twenty minutes. Neji, Shikamaru and Temari broke free of the dance floor and found everyone on the stairs.

"This is a party," said Shikamaru, "why are you all just sitting here?"

"We got hungry," Naruto answered, "pizza in the basement in twenty."

"I could go for that," said Temari, "I'm getting a little tired of running drugs to people."

Shikamaru nodded in agreement and leaned against the front door. "The cousin's downstairs with her friends, but I can kick them out. I don't even know why she wants to come to my parties so bad when all she does is sit in the basement."

"Because her school sucks and nobody has parties," said Neji. "Emo and private school doesn't mix very well."

Tenten understood that statement all too well.

Once the pizza arrived, the entirety of the group scurried down the stairs to Shikamaru's basement. Just as he had said, there was a group of girls, one of whom was Shikamaru's cousin, taking over the couch.

"Get out," said Shikamaru.

A girl with purple hair turned around to glare at her cousin. "This may be your house, but you're not in charge of me and my friends." Her glare soften the moment Tenten stepped into the room. "Hey, Tenten, I didn't know you were here."

Tenten looked up to meet the eyes on one of the girls she considered her 'friend' at her old school. "You're Shikamaru's cousin?"

"Unfortunately, I am. So Konoha's the school you transferred to? I'm surprised your parents let you come to a party, especially one like this."

"They don't know," Tenten replied, "I told them I was staying at a new friend's house."

The girl laughed, "I bet they liked that."

"Hold up," said Naruto who then turned to look at Tenten, "how do you and Asumi know each other?"

"I went to Anbu prep before transferring to Konoha at semester," Tenten answered.

"Well," Asumi said standing up, "we'll leave you guys alone, but only if you give us a discount later, Shikamaru."

"Whatever you want, you know where the stash is."

"Thanks cuz!" Asumi and her friends ran up the stairs to join the party.

"Now that she's gone," Naruto started, "we can get wrecked!"

"Already half way there," Sasuke remarked while taking a drink from the red solo cup he and Sakura had been sharing all night.

"I popped a molly from Suigetsu over an hour ago and I feel nothing," Sakura groaned.

"It was probably just Advil…" Shikamaru shrugged, "Suigetsu likes to rip people off."

Tenten could feel Neji's eyes on her from across the room while she took a piece of pizza from the box and put it to her mouth. He looked concerned, maybe with all the talk about drug use in the presence of someone new. What Neji didn't know, is that Tenten was no stranger to substance abuse.

She was taken away from her thoughts when Lee said, "Tenten, tell me about yourself, you and I haven't had much of a chance to get to know one another in the short time you've been attending our youthful school!"

"What do you want to know?" she asked awkwardly.

"Why did you change school?" he asked.

"I've been wondering that myself," Hinata added.

"Um…well, my parents wanted me to make new friends, I guess." Tenten answered, "I had friends at my old school, but I'm not a very social person, and my parents think it's weird."

"Why go to a public school?" Sakura asked, "Haven't you been at private schools your whole life?"

"Yeah. Honestly, I'm not really sure why they didn't transfer me to another private school, I know my grandfather doesn't approve of the public schooling system."

"Why is that?" Neji asked.

"He thinks that I won't be taken care of properly by the staff or the other students. At my old school, there were a lot of children and grandkids of important people, so they just knew how to handle everything." Everyone stared at her confused. "Oh, sorry, I guess I should clarify so it doesn't sound like I'm talking above you. My grandfather is the Prime Minister…" Tenten scratched the back of her head awkwardly.

"I'm sorry, what?" Ino pushed.

"My dad's father is the Prime Minister."

"What!?" every yelled.

"But you don't have the same last name," Sakura said.

"Yeah, I took my mom's last name. Something about hiding my identity if I ever needed to."

"So you like, don't fit in with your family at all," Ino observed.

"No, not really. I hate going to events with them because I have to talk to people, and change my appearance. I can't talk about anything I like, only about school and my grades. It just looks better if I tell people I'm ahead in my classes and at an expensive private school."

Everyone's jaws still hung slightly ajar. Tenten wasn't sure how else to respond, or how much more she should tell her new friends.

"So…" Naruto tried to change the subject, "Are we gonna get wasted or what?"

"Yeah!" everyone but Neji and Tenten cheered. Neji still stared at Tenten from the couch across from her and she still didn't know what to do about it.

"Hyuga, why the fuck aren't you drinking!?" Sasuke hollered at him.

"Don't want to."

"That's a load of bullshit," Naruto spouted, "you never deny mind-altering substances. I'd ask if you were high, but obviously you aren't."

"I made a promise to someone."

"Who, your mom?" Shikamaru asked teasingly.

"Yes, but it's not like I ever go through with those promises."

"Honestly…" Ino rolled her eyes, "you're the king of lying to your parents, hook ups, and playing with the hearts of young, innocent, females."

"Good thing none of us are innocent," Temari smirked, "or you'd all have your hearts broken by Neji."

"Neji is not my type!" Ino and Sakura both said in unison.

Everyone laughed, then Sasuke said, "Good," and kissed Sakura sweetly.

It was three in the morning by the time Shikamaru got everyone out of his house. A few people stayed back to clean up, probably hoping that Shikamaru would give them free pot as thanks. He didn't give them any. Tenten was beginning to doze with Hinata on the staircase while they waited for Neji and Naruto to come back with booze replacements for Shikamaru's parents' liquor cabinet. Sasuke and Sakura were both passed out drunk on the couch, and Ino helped Shikamaru and Temari get rid of anything his parents might kill him for later.

The front door opened to reveal Neji and Naruto, both carrying the replacements for the liquor cabinets, and they both began to put their finds back where the originals used to be. Neji's hair was tied up higher than it was when he left with Naruto, which revealed a small hickey on the side of his neck. Tenten felt a tiny twinge of jealousy course through her veins, but she immediately shook it off and went back to trying not to pass out.

She closed her eyes, but she was startled back awake by Neji's deep, sultry voice, "are you tired?"

Tenten nodded, and he helped her stand up. He said a quick "see you Monday" to his friends and he led Tenten out the front door and to his car that was parked in the same place they had left it when they arrived at the party. She reached out to pull open the passenger side door, but was stopped when she saw a bumper sticker that was not there before that read: _I only have sex when I'm horny._ Tenten laughed at the lack of deception the sticker had and climbed into Neji's car.

"I'll take you back to my house," Neji said over the soft hum of Halsey's 'Gasoline' that played through the speakers.

"Why?" Tenten asked, wondering why he wouldn't just take her home.

"You told your parents you were staying over at a friend's house didn't you? It would look weird if you came home in the middle of the night, especially at this time."

Tenten couldn't argue with that, but she wasn't sure how she felt about spending the rest of the night at Neji's. "You aren't going to try to seduce me into your bed are you?" she asked, half-jokingly.

Neji smirked, "Not unless you want me to."

"You need to higher your standards for sleeping with someone."

"Maybe. I don't normally go for virgins anyways, contrary to what Ino and Temari might think."

Tenten stared at him, "I'm not a virgin."

"Yes you are."

"No, I'm pretty sure I'm not."

"Pretty sure? You're definitely a virgin if you're only "pretty sure.'"

"Well I'm not."

"Then who'd you sleep with."

"My ex."

"Mmhmm," he said sarcastically. "What's his name?"

"That's none of your business."

"Tell me about him."

"Also none of your business."

"Then he doesn't exist."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "are you gonna make me prove it to you?"

He parked his car in his garage and turned to look her in the eyes. She held his gaze confidently.

"Well, are you?" she asked again.

He got out of his car and said, "Come on," while he held the door that led from the garage into the kitchen open for her. He kicked the door closed and locked it. He turned back around to face her, then backed her into the counter. She flinched at the slight sting the marble edge left behind on her lower back. Neji inched closer and closer to her until the only thing left to close the distance between them was their lips. He trapped her by placing his hands firmly on the counter on either side of her. Tenten continued to hold his gaze, she wanted to prove to him that she wasn't lying, and at that moment she'd do anything, including sleeping with him, to prove it.

Neji relaxed and stepped back, "I'm not doing this."

"So you believe me then?"

"No. I just don't feel like taking anyone's virginity today."

"Oh my God, Neji! Seriously?"

"What?"

Tenten didn't know what else she could do to convince him that she was telling the truth. She thought back to her times with _him_ and the lightbulb lit up. "Hand me my bag."

"Why?"

"Just do it. I dropped it when you so rudely backed me into the counter."

He looked to the floor, and sure enough, Tenten's bag was lying half open on the floor, a sketch pad hanging out the top. He picked it up and handed the bag to her. She then removed her sketch book and flipped through the pages until she came across was she was looking for. She handed him the book, and told him that he could flip through it until he was convinced of her lack of virginity.

Neji stared at the content on the pages, some of these drawing definitely weren't PG…the detail was great. Neji knew that Tenten was good, but not _this_ good. He continued to page through the explicit drawings of Tenten's ex-boyfriend in compromising positions until a few pages fell out of the book and fluttered to the ground. Neji bent down to pick them up, but Tenten snatched them away. "You don't need to see these ones," she told him.

"They can't be any worse than what you've drawn here," he tilted the sketch pad up for her to see what he was referring to.

"They are…They're pictures."

He stared at her. "No they're not."

"Yes they are."

"Prove me wrong."

She knew what he was doing, he had just done the same thing to her moments ago about her virginity. Neji was a fast learner, in just those seven minutes of argument, he figured out exactly how to get what he wanted from her. "I can't show you these."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm a minor…and he isn't…wasn't then either."

"How much older is he?"

She averted her gaze and stared at the floor. "Eleven years. He's twenty seven."

"Why would you do that to yourself?"

"Because I loved him. Why do _you_ do it to yourself?"

He didn't have an answer for her. He definitely didn't love any of the girls he had slept with, especially the ones so much older than him. The only girl he ever slept with, that he really, truly loved was Mika, and she turned out to be the worst thing to ever happen to him. "I do it to," he mumbled under his breath.

Unable to hear him correctly, she asked, "what?"

He took her by the hand and dragged her through his house to the staircase, "come on." He pulled her up the stairs and down the hall to what she assumed to be his bedroom. He shuffled through a pile of beat up sketch books on his desk and pulled out a pad that was covered in paint tests. He handed her the booklet and said, "I do it to."

Tenten flipped through the pages and each one was filed with pictures of different girls. She recognized a few from school, others she didn't know. Each girl was in the nude, sometimes covered by her arm or a blanket, all drawn in different angles. The precision was incredible. Neji captured every line perfectly. He was better than her; that was obvious. Not that it was a competition.

"So this is…" she began.

"Every girl I've ever slept with."

"There's a lot."

"Yeah."

Tenten continued to flip through Neji's book of records until she came upon a girl she really recognized. "Myru?"

He looked to see which picture she was looking at, and he responded, "Yeah. I should really give that to Kiba. She's his girlfriend after all."

"Don't do that. Giving him this will only piss him off even more." She continued to flip through the book, "really Neji? Anko Sensei too?"

He shrugged. "That's how I passed the final."

"Gross. Is this one Hotaru?"

"Hn."

"I never realized how pretty she was."

"She's okay."

She came to the end of the booklet and handed it back to him. "So what? So we both like to draw people we've been intimate with."

They stared into each other's eyes for what seemed like hours, until Neji made the first move and caressed Tenten's flawless cheek with the backs of his fingers. She took his other hand in hers and he pulled her closer, until their noses touched. She couldn't breathe. Neji's hand dropped from Tenten's cheek to her hip and he continued to pull her closer until her lips were begging him to be kissed. Their kiss was gentle to start. She moved her lips against his, he then forced his tongue into her mouth, and in response she reciprocated the action. Every ounce of her being was telling her to stop. She knew Neji's game, and she didn't want to end up just another girl in his sketchbook. Still, she kissed him until the sun came up.

 **A/N: Don't forget to review, tell me what you think about this chapter!**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Neji and Mika

Part 1

"Are you nervous for your first day, love?"

"No," Neji answered picking up his backpack off the dining room table and swinging it over his shoulder. "Why would I be?"

"Because it's a new school, with new people and that's scary," Hiyeri smiled at her son reassuringly.

"You act like I'll be all by myself. I have classes with every one of my friends and Hinata's in my homeroom."

"Neji, I'm your mother, I'm supposed to worry about you. You're growing up so fast, it feels like just yesterday I was changing your diaper. You're even taller than me now!" Her voice cracked as the first tears began to fall.

"Mom, don't cry. It's not a big deal, it's just the first day of school."

"Your father would be so proud of you!" she sobbed.

Neji rolled his eyes, this happened on every first day he's ever had. His friends weren't even here yet to pick him up, and he was already feeling the embarrassment.

"Itachi's picking you up?" she asked while wiping her eyes of any tears.

Neji nodded.

"Oh God, he's a senior this year isn't he?"

"Yeah."

She started crying again, "why are you boys growing up so fast!? I remember when Itachi was pushing you and Sasuke off of the playground equipment and harassing you about girls."

"He still does that…not the playground thing, but the other thing."

She laughed through her tears. "That's what older brothers are supposed to do."

There was a car horn coming from outside. Neji looked to the living room and through the window he could see Itachi, Sasuke and Naruto in the car parked in his driveway. "I'm leaving."

Hiyeri enveloped Neji in a hug, and kissed his cheek, "I love you. Have a wonderful first day."

"Mom stop it," he complained all while pushing her off him.

"Okay, okay." Hiyeri followed Neji to the door, waved at Itachi and watched from the porch as they drove off.

"Did she cry again?" Sasuke asked, all while pushing Itachi's had away from the radio.

"Of course."

"My mom and dad both cried!" Naruto piped in. "It was so embarrassing! Jiraiya came over this morning too, to wish me luck—Sasuke what's taking so damn long with the music!?"

"Shut up, Naruto!" Sasuke shuffled through the pile of CDs in his lap to find the right one. As soon as he had found the one he was looking for, Itachi reached across the council and pushed the pile off Sasuke's lap and onto the floor. "Itachi, knock it off! You promised we could have the stereo this morning, stop being difficult!"

"Sorry Sasuke, maybe next time."

"Fuck off. We get stereo rights."

"Fine fine…none of that screamo crap though."

"Too bad, that's what we're playing." Sasuke opened the case of Pierce the Veil's Collide with the Sky and skipped right to "King for a Day."

The first half of their first day of freshman year was a breeze. They sat through all the presentations of the school rules like good kids, listened to every word the teachers had to tell them, then parted ways to find their first class after lunch.

Neji found his History class easily, it was in the same room and taught by the same teacher as his homeroom. For this hour he sat in the back, up against the wall, where his teacher couldn't see him if he decided that he'd had enough History for the day and wanted to draw in his sketch pad.

The bell rang for class to begin, and like every teacher was required to do on the first day, Kurenai Sensei introduced herself, wrote her name on the board and told the class a little about herself. There was a knock at the door that interrupted what Kurenai was saying. She opened the door and a girl ducked her way in. She bowed to the teacher and apologized for being so late.

"Mika, it's nice to have you again this year. Let's not get into a bad start already this year. You want to graduate, remember?"

"Yes, I'm so sorry Kurnai Sensei, it won't happen again."

Neji watched this girl gracefully walk down the aisle and find her seat to the right, diagonal from where he was sitting. She was the prettiest girl he'd ever seen. Her long, auburn hair was curled and cascading around her shoulders and down to her waist. She wore a white summer dress, with corked heeled sandals. His eyes traveled over her entire body. Her long, creamy legs were the perfect shape and fit her body perfectly. Her shoulders sloped slightly as she reached into her bag to pull out a pencil and the strap of her dress fell to reveal her lacy, pink bra strap. He gulped.

When she sat back up, their eyes met, and she noticed him staring at her. She smiled at him and whispered, "I'm Mika."

"Neji," he whispered back. That was their first encounter.

As the days went on, he started seeing her in the halls with her friends. He found out that she was a senior and that she failed a few of her classes throughout her high school career and needed to retake them in order to graduate. _That would explain why she was a senior in a freshman history class,_ Neji thought to himself.

To say he had a crush on this girl would have been an understatement. His friends noticed how he stared after her in the halls when she would walk by. "She's out of your league," Sasuke said.

"She's too old for you," Shikamaru would say.

"I think she's hot," always came from Naruto, which would earn him a glare from Neji and a sad look from Hinata.

Lee always encouraged, "I think you should go for it. Ask her out, the worst that she can say is no, and you never know, maybe she's in love with you too."

"I'm not in love with her."

"Then stop staring at her like a horn dog," Sakura rolled her eyes, "Its degrading."

"How is it degrading!?" Neji asked, slightly offended.

"It's not. Sakura just thinks she's a feminist," Sasuke answered.

"It's rude to stare after a girl while she walks away!"

Sasuke looked up from his phone to stare the pinkette down, "You're telling me that if I checked out your ass, you'd be mad!?"

Sakura's eyes widened. She stumbled over her words, pink tinting her cheeks, "N-no…I'm saying that if you don't have any intention to go after her, then it's rude to make her think that there's a chance just because you look her up and down."

Sasuke didn't say a word, he was too busy trying to hide the blush that crept up to his cheeks after basically admitting that he checks out Sakura.

"What makes you think Neji's not going to go after her?" Hinata asked, quietly.

"Because Neji's a prude," Naruto answered, "he doesn't do shit. He's gonna be a virgin forever."

"So are you, idiot," Sasuke insulted his best friend.

"Do you wanna go!?" Naruto jumped up and got in his face.

"Yeah, I do, right now!" Sasuke fired back.

"Okay, okay, that's enough," Sakura pulled both boys back by the collars of their shirts and ridiculed them both on why they shouldn't fight in the school hallways.

The first History project of the year, was a partner assignment. Kurenai Sensei assigned the partner at random by pulling names out of a hat. Luck must have been on his side, because the first two names pulled out were his own, and Mika's. She looked back at him and grinned. He had to fight with himself to keep his face from heating up.

"So Neji," Mika said after class was over, "When do you wanna work on our project? I'm free pretty much every day after school, and at lunch. Do you have a study hall? I could probably ditch a few classes to work with you, if you want."

Neji shrugged, "After school works."

"Perfect! You can just come home with me then." Before he could argue, she was already on her way out of the classroom to meet up with her friends. She said something to one of them and ran back in the room. "Wait for me by the west entrance after school, okay?"

Neji nodded and he was alone again.

When the final bell of the day rang, Neji found Mika waiting for him by the west entrance, just like where she said she'd be. When they arrived at her house, neither one of her parents were home, which made him a little uncomfortable considering he hardly knew this girl. She brought him up to her room and she shuffled through a stack of papers on her desk until she pulled out a notebook.

"Let's brainstorm," she said, "what can we do that'll work for this project. What are you good at?"

"I don't know," Neji shrugged, then took a seat on her bed where she gestured for him to sit.

"Well, aren't you like, really smart?" she asked. "My friends say they have classes with you, so you must be advanced."

"I guess."

"I always see you drawing in a sketchbook during class, so you must be good at that too, right?"

"I mostly paint," he answered.

"That's cool," she smiled, kicking off her heels. "I'm gonna change."

Neji got up to leave her room so she could do so, but before he could do that, she was already standing in her bra and underwear. Her jeans and t-shirt lying forgotten in the corner of her room. He looked away, embarrassed. The only girls he'd ever seen so undressed before was in pictures that Naruto had showed him, or at the pool during the summer.

He tried to look away, but he couldn't. She was just, so beautiful to him, and he didn't know when he'd get a chance like this again. She went on and on about what they could do for their project, while he watched the subtle movements of her body as she crossed her room repeatedly to find her comfy clothes. She found her leggings and bent over to pick them up off the floor. Neji's head almost exploded. Her lacy undergarments accentuated her body perfectly…he needed to draw this.

He was taken out of his fantasies when she said, "Sorry about that, we can get back to all seriousness now."

"O-okay," he forced out.

About half way through the start of their project, Neji finally got his mind un-fogged from images of the hot senior girl in front of him in her underwear. He was sketching out an outline of a possible visual aid they could use when she asked, "So how long have you and Hinata been dating?"

"What?" he asked startled, "Hinata's my cousin."

She laughed, "Oh. Now I'm embarrassed. I figured that since you and Hinata were together you wouldn't mind if I walked around in my underwear…I figured that it wasn't anything you haven't seen before, but you're related so…"

"Don't be embarrassed," he tried to reason, "its fine."

"Good." She went back to researching. "You're used to it though, right?"

Neji was confused by her words, "What do you mean?"

"You've had a girlfriend before right?"

"In middle school, that doesn't count though."

"Sure it does…depending on how far you go, it counts."

Neji didn't answer her. He liked Mika, but it didn't change the fact that he didn't know her, and he didn't want to sound like a loser in front of the hot senior he fancied by admitting that he was still a virgin.

"So?" she questioned, "how far did you go with your middle school girlfriends?"

Neji debated with himself if he should lie to seem cooler, or just tell the truth. He settled on the truth. "Just kissing mostly."

"So you're still a-"

"Yeah."

"That's surprising to me. You're a pretty attractive guy, and you don't seem to be unconfident at all. Why the wait?"

"They weren't anybody I wanted to do it with."

"That makes sense," she smiled up at him, "it's better to do it with someone you love, anyways."

They finished their project, and when they presented it to their class, Kurenai Sensei told them that it was the best she'd ever seen in all her years of teaching. Mika was ecstatic because it made her realize that she could pass this class. It was nothing new for Neji, he was used to being the best.

A few weeks past, and in that time, Neji and Mika had been talking a lot. They texted each other every night until one of them fell asleep. Neji couldn't stop thinking about her. His friends began to get annoyed with his constant interactions with her, because she was literally all he talked about. Anything they said he would have some stupid story about how it pertained to Mika. Sasuke and Naruto almost beat him. Lee thought it was adorable. Shikamaru didn't care.

Neji spent every history class period sketching the beautiful girl that sat diagonally from him. Each page was filled with something different; her profile, the back of her head, her legs…he memorized every detail about her, and could sketch her entire body just from memory, including the time he saw her in just her underwear.

During a test at the end of the month, Neji stuck his sketchbook under his desk and forgot about it. He ended up leaving it behind. Mika had been struggling with a lot of the test questions and stayed behind after the bell to finish. After handing in her test, she noticed the yellow booklet sitting under Neji's desk and immediately recognized it. She removed it from the book holder under the desk and went to find him. She wandered the halls while she tried to remember exactly what class he had after history, and even after texting him with no reply, she decided on just waiting until after the bell to return it to him.

She took a seat in her economy class, and put the sketchbook off to the side. About ten minutes into class, her brain couldn't take any more talk of numbers. She needed something else to do. She pulled Neji's sketchbook out of her book bag and began to page through it. Her eyes widened at the first sketch she flipped through. She had no idea Neji was so talented, everything on the page was meticulous. The detail in the hand she was looking at inspired her, just as the leg did on the next page, and the eyes one the page after that. As she made her way deeper into the book, she began to realize its familiarity. These pictures were all of her.

Flipping back to the pages she had skipped over in the beginning, she gasped to herself. It was a perfect drawing of her backside in nothing but her bra and underwear. Anybody else would think that finding an entire sketchbook dedicated to them by someone who was basically a stranger would have been creepy, but Mika thought it to be flattering. She loved how he captured her form, and how exact each drawing was to the real thing. She turned to the last sketch in the pad and smiled at the drawing of her profile. Her heart raced, and in the moment she realized that she maybe in love with the young freshman.

The final bell rang and Mika found Neji at his locker, gathering his backpack. She noticed his friends approaching him, and raced to get there first. "Hey," she smiled at him.

"Hi Mika," he smiled back.

She looked up to see that his friends had noticed them talking and they stopped their approach to give them some privacy. She glanced down at the book that was in her hands and back up to Neji. "You left this in history." She held the book out in front of her for him to take, but he didn't move. He stared at her, fear evident in his eyes. "I looked through it…I probably should have asked first, but I did it. Sorry."

"You looked at all of it?"

She nodded, and he finally took it from her.

"Neji, do you like me?" she asked.

"I…um…" his grip on the sketchbook tightened as he fought with himself on how he should answer her. "Yeah, I do," he mumbled, obviously embarrassed.

She smiled shyly. "You're really talented. I liked you're drawings a lot."

He relaxed a little when he realized that she wasn't upset with him for drawing her so much. "Thanks."

"Looking at how you draw me, it made me realize something."

Neji waited for her to continue.

"It made me realize that I like you too." She met his gaze, with a blush dusting her cheeks.

He stared at her, waiting for her to tell him that she was kidding. There's no way a senior, this hot and this amazing liked him, an emo fifteen year old that did nothing but paint and draw, back.

"Do you want to be my boyfriend, Neji?"

He did. He really, really did. But he kept his mouth shut, still waiting for her to tell him that she was creeped out by his infatuation with her. Those words never came.

"Do you Neji?" she asked again.

He nodded slowly, "yeah."

She smiled, big and bright. Excitement obvious in her gaze. Before anything else could happen, Mika got up on her toes, wrapped her arms around Neji's neck and kissed him gently. He kissed her back, and wrapped his arms around her dainty waist. When she pulled away, he went in to kiss her again, and she graciously accepted his lips on hers. This was the best first kiss Mika had ever had, and she's had a lot.

When they were finally able to pull themselves away from each other, she told him that they would be hanging out this weekend and going on a real date. They walked out of the building with their fingers laced together for all to see, but she needed to pull away so that Neji could get in Itachi's car with Sasuke and Naruto. She kissed him again, quickly, and said that she'd see him tomorrow.

Neji turned around to see his friends staring at him, all with stupid grins plastered across their face.

"Ooooh!" Naruto teased.

"Took you long enough…" Shikamaru sighed.

Hinata and Sakura both smiled sweetly at him, but didn't say anything.

Sasuke raised his eyebrow and said, "I can't fucking wait to tell everyone about this."

"S-shut up, it's no big deal."

"Neji, you just got kissed! This is a big deal!" Lee shouted.

"It's not like I've never kissed anyone before," Neji shrugged.

"But this is a senior!" Naruto exclaimed. "Freshman boys don't get senior girls, especially one's like us, this is a miracle!"

In the car on the way to Neji's house, Itachi finally won the argument about who gets to pick what music plays over the stereo, when Sasuke announced, "Neji's got a girlfriend." To which Itachi immediately shut off the mainstream pop music that blared throughout the car.

"What!?" Itachi asked excitedly, "Who?"

"A senior," Naruto teased.

"Really?" Itachi asked, concern obvious in eyes.

"Yup," Sasuke answered for his friend, "she's hot too."

"Who is it? Maybe I know them."

"Mika Toya."

Itachi's concern immediately turned to relief at the mention of her name. "Mika's cool. I didn't know you knew each other."

"Oh they know each other," Naruto teased again, "you should have seen the way he was kissing her!"

Neji ignored his friends comment and replied to Sasuke's older brother, "We have history together. That's how we met."

"Is that one of the classes she failed?"

Neji nodded, "yeah."

"I bet you're pretty damn ecstatic that she failed that class and had to retake it," said Sasuke. "Or else you wouldn't be making out with her in the parking lot."

"We weren't making out."

Itachi grinned and added, "You will be soon."

 **A/N: Let me know what you think of Mika so far! I think the background chapters about Mika and Neji's relationship will be three parts long, and then I'll get back to the real story. I think I'll also have a few background chapters about Tenten and her ex (who currently doesn't have a name) as well. Don't forget to review! Check out my other fics as well!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Neji and Mika

Part 2

Itachi's words rang true. In no time at all, Neji and Mika were all over each other. In the halls they got yelled at for making out, at home Neji's mom interrupted their heavy petting more times than she would like to admit. Mika's parents were never home, but when they were the couple was on their best behavior, but as soon as they were gone, Neji and Mika immediately returned to swapping saliva. Hiashi loved Mika, he thought that she was the perfect girl for Neji; well behaved, polite, respectful of his family and most importantly Neji, but Hiashi didn't know the gritty details of his nephew's relationship with the older girl.

Neji's friends didn't hate Mika, but they hated how Neji was when she was around. He didn't ignore them per say, but he definitely didn't pay as much attentions to them. The freshman had a different lunch hour than the upper classman, but Mika had an open hour, so she always just ate with them. Anytime they all hung out together after school or on the weekends, she was there. Instead of sitting around in Sasuke's basement playing videogames or listening to music, Neji kissed his girlfriend. Naruto was annoyed. Sasuke was more pissed off than usual. Shikamaru didn't care. Lee thought it was adorable. Hinata and Sakura were uncomfortable.

They had only been dating two weeks, and they already acted like they only knew each other. They were the high school couple everyone hated because they were always kissing in the halls, or jumping on each other, and only ever seen together.

At the one month mark of their relationship, Mika began to drag Neji and his friends to party's. At first they felt out of place, but they quickly found out exactly how to act at these social functions. Shikamaru began dealing the marijuana he had always smoked, Sasuke got meaner, Sakura got sluttier, Hinata gained confidence, Naruto cared less, and Lee took risks he normally wouldn't have taken.

Mika and Neji had been cuddling on the couch, while their friends danced to the loud music around them. "My head's starting to hurt," she yelled to him over the loud music, "do you wanna go upstairs?"

Neji nodded and dragged the girl upstairs to her bedroom. The vibrations of the music could still be heard behind her closed door, but it was much quieter. Mika took a seat on her bed, propped up her pillows against the headboard and sat back. She sighed. Neji followed her movements and took her hand in his. "Are you okay?" he asked, taking notice that something was obviously troubling his girlfriend.

"I'm fine. But I have a confession, my head doesn't actually hurt, I just wanted to be alone with you."

"Why didn't you just say that?" he asked grinning, "You don't need to lie to get me to be alone with you."

She laughed, "I know, sometimes I forget how easy it is to be with you."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No, not at all! All my ex's sucked. They never wanted to just spend time with me, they always picked their friends over me, and you do the perfect combination of both."

He smiled, and kissed her lips gently. She pulled him back to her and deepened their kiss. Her elbow collided with the bars on her headboard while she adjusted her position to wrap her arms arounds around Neji's neck. He gently guided her down into the mattress to hover above her form. He brushed her bangs away from her eyes and stared at her. "You're so beautiful," he spoke, gently.

Mika pulled him back down to meet her lips and guided him into the mattress. She threw her leg over his waist and pinned him. She kissed his cheeks, then his forehead, then back to his lips where she forced her tongue into his mouth. Their kiss was so heated that when they pulled away from each other to catch their breaths, a string of saliva still connected them. She could feel the tent in his jeans brushing against her core, and the wetness in her own pants from the contact.

"Neji," she whispered while staring into his white eyes, "I want to have sex with you."

He stared at her.

"Right now."

It didn't take much thought for him to make a decision. He loved this girl, and wanted to do everything he could to be close to her. And nothing would get them any closer together than that. "O-okay."

She didn't need any other sign to continue. She kissed him again, forcing his lips apart for her tongue. Her hands traveled down his chest until she found the hem of his shirt and pulled it off his body as fast as she could. Her lips trailed little kisses down his face and to his neck, where she found the sexy dip of his collar bone, and sucked. There was a small hickey left over from days before, but she wanted him littered with more. She wanted the world to know that Neji was hers, and no one else's. Her lips traveled lower, leaving little love bites all over his chest.

Neji gripped her hips tightly, his nails digging into her side. She pulled away faster than he would have liked, and sat up to brush her hair out of her face and check out her works on his chest. In that moment, Neji took the opportunity to rid Mika of her shirt, revealing her much too sexy to be wearing under a cat t-shirt, mostly see-through bra. Her nipples poked through the material, and Neji reached up to touch, but she stopped him by quickly unhooking her bra and throwing it across the room. She pressed her chest up against his and kissed him again.

In seconds, she was back up to a seated position on his waist. She climbed off momentarily to wiggle out of her own jeans. Her heart raced when she glanced back at the bed to see Neji lying there, vulnerable. He stared her at, and she began to feel self-conscious, but this was nothing new to her…it was just _with_ someone new. She climbed back on the bed and hooked her fingers around the belt loops in Neji's skinny jeans. She pulled them off, slowly, making sure they brushed against his erection. She palmed his member through his boxers and applied pressure. His breath caught in his throat as the new sensations overwhelmed him.

She continued her ministrations as she returned to kissing down his chest, until she reached the waistband of his boxers. She wrapped her fingers around the band, and looked up to meet his gaze, looking for any sure sign that it was okay for her to continue. He nodded and before another thought could enter his mind, he was lying in front of Mika, totally exposed. Without any warning, Mika was between his legs and her mouth was wrapped tightly around him. He panted at the unfamiliar feeling of her tongue caressing him, ever so gently. He gasped as she began to suck, and scrape her teeth up and down his length. It hurt slightly, but it was a good pain. He wrapped his hands through her auburn locks and guided her head to wherever it felt the best.

Mika choked slightly as his tip hit her in the back of the throat, but she recovered and returned to completing her task. She could feel him shudder underneath her as his orgasm neared. She pulled away, slowly, leaving him wanting more. "Not yet," she whispered against his lips. She pulled him back up to a sitting position all while kissing him deeply. She wrapped her arms around him and twisted their bodies around so that he could push her down into the bed. She smiled against his lips when his hand groped her breast and thumbed her hard nipple.

She lifted her hips up so that he could peel off her panties. He shook with each movement to the band of her panties, and she stopped him to say, "It's okay, just relax."

He took a deep breath, and was able to take off her underwear without a problem. He bent over to kiss her, but his member accidentally collided with her core. They both let out a moan.

"Do it now," she forced out. He looked down at her, not knowing exactly what she meant. Mika reached over to her bedside table, opened the drawer and pulled out a condom. She opened the square package and rolled it onto Neji's length. She recognized his hesitation to continue and grasped his hips to guide him. He followed her instructions carefully and pushed himself into her. She gasped at the sudden intrusion. He froze, thinking that he hurt her.

He didn't move, remembering something that Itachi had told he and his friends a long time ago about how if it's a girls first time, they need to wait to move until she adjusts, but this wasn't Mika's first time.

"You can move," she told him, "I'm okay."

He did as she asked, and immediately his mind fogged. He didn't think something could feel so good. She wrapped her legs around his waist to deepen how far he was able to go inside her, and pulled his hips down into her. She wrapped her arms around her torso to feel even closer to him. He gained more and more confidence at each thrust, allowing him to go faster, or harder…whatever she asked of him.

Neji craned his neck to latch onto her collar with his mouth. He kissed and sucked between each of his thrusts, covering her neck and chest in hickies. "M-more," she begged.

But he didn't know what else he could do to please her. He continued to grind his hips into hers until she was screaming his name and leaving long scratches down his back. Her legs relaxed a little around his waist as her orgasm subsided, leaving a dripping wet mess on her sheets. She sat up slowly, and Neji ceased his movements. He wasn't finished yet, and Mika wasn't about to get herself off, and not him. She pushed him backwards, his head almost colliding with the footboard and immediately began to bounce up and down on him.

He gasped at her actions, and grunted each time she came down on him. With no time at all, he was a moaning mess under her. "M-Mika," he choked out as he came. She kept her movements going until he went limp inside her, and relaxed into the mattress. She climbed off of him and pulled off the condom. She tied it off at the end, and tossed it into the wastebasket by her bed. She crawled back over to Neji and pressed herself against his side. He wrapped his arms around her while they caught their breath.

"How was your first time?" she asked, kissing his cheek.

"Wow," was all he could say, which made her giggle.

"We should probably go back down to the party, or our friends will come looking for us."

"I don't want to, yet." Neji tightened his hold on his lover and brushed her bangs away from her face.

"Whatever you want, my love."

All of Neji and his friends' firsts happened at one of these parties. Hinata admitted to Naruto, after multiple drinks, that she was in love with him, and they kissed, sealing the deal on their relationship. Sakura and Sasuke, both too high to think straight, ended up sleeping together behind a closed door in Mika's friend's basement, and after months of hooking up, finally made things official. Shikamaru met Temari, and fell in love almost instantly.

After Neji and Mika's first time together, they began to explore each other much more. In the backseat of Mika's car, she gave Neji a blow job…multiple times. At every party, they would sneak away to have sex, whenever Mika got bored during class, she would text Neji and they'd meet in a janitors closet where she blew him, and he returned the favor. Neji's mom had caught them in his bed, more times than she could count and had given them both a stern talking to, to which neither of them listened and eventually she gave up, knowing that they were being safe, and that was all she could ask for. Mika's parents loved Neji, and knew that they were sexually active. They didn't care too much, but the age difference did worry them, especially since Mika would be turning eighteen soon, making their activities illegal. There was a party at Hyuga Corporations that Neji had asked Mika to attend with him, and half way through the night, both bored out of their minds talking to old people about the same three things; business, grades and how they started dating, they were both able to sneak away, find an empty bathroom stall and go for a quickie.

After being with Mika for five months, Neji changed. He was so in love with her that the rest of the people in his life didn't matter. They were always together, even going as far as spending the night at each other's houses. Hiyeri thought that their relationship was toxic for her son, she saw just how much Mika had him wrapped around her finger. If Neji didn't already have such an addictive personality, she wouldn't have worried about him so much. Whatever Mika told him, he obliged to do without a second thought. He came home from date's high, or drunk, hickies lining his entire body. He was getting into fights with people, mostly his friends. Sasuke and Naruto hated Mika for how much she changed their best friend. Lee saw the change in Neji as well, but he wanted to give Mika the benefit of the doubt. Hinata grew worried. Shikamaru stopped supplying them with drugs because he knew how out of hand this was getting. Hiashi was blind to Neji's new personality. Whenever he saw them together, Mika and Neji were both on their best behavior. He adored the girl and thought that she was perfect for Neji. In reality he saw how she manipulated him, which he saw as an easy way to convince him to take over the company, what Mika says goes.

"Neji," Mika laughed while he painted on her bare stomach, "that tickles!"

"Good," he kissed her lips softly.

"What are you painting anyways?" she asked trying to look down.

"No, don't look!" he placed his hands over her eyes. "I'm almost done, then you can look."

"You're going to get paint all over your bed."

"Wouldn't be the first time."

He sat on her hips, gliding the soft bristles of his paint brush across her abdomen. She felt the paint dip into her bellybutton and she shuddered at its coldness.

"Okay, okay, I won't look. You can take our hands off my eyes now."

"I'm done anyway." He climbed off her hips and crossed his room to where her phone was located on his desk. He unlocked her phone and went to the camera app where he snapped a picture of her torso. He reached a hand out to her to help her off the bed, so she wouldn't ruin his masterpiece before she got to see in in the mirror.

"Holy shit, Neji!" she exclaimed, staring intently at the reflection of the night sky that covered her stomach. "That's amazing!"

He handed Mika her cell phone so she could take a picture of them together in the mirror. She opened Instagram and posted the picture Neji had taken of her torso and the one of them together, both with the caption, "my boyfriend is more talented than yours."

"Now will you tell me why your easel is covered? I wanna see what you've been working on!"

"Yeah, I guess. I finished it last night."

"It's about time, you've been working on it for weeks!"

Neji crossed his room to the sheet covered canvas that was propped up on his easel. "You better love it, because my mom kept yelling at me about it."

She laughed, "Why's that?"

"Apparently it's inappropriate." He pulled off the sheet that covered his masterpiece to reveal a portrait of Mika, lying in a very sensual position on her bed, with nothing on but her bra. Her arms were laid out above her, while she looked back at Neji who had been drawing her in his sketchbook at the time. Her legs were crossed, covering anything that someone would deem pornographic.

"It's beautiful," she whispered taking it all in. "Can I keep it?"

"Of course, I painted it for you." He wrapped his arms around her, forgetting that she was covered in blue and white paint. They shared a deep kiss and when he pulled away, they laughed at the paint that was now smudged across his t-shirt.

"I love you so much Neji."

"I love you too, Mika."

 **A/N: Don't forget to review!**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Neji and Mika

Part 3

"Neji, can we talk?" Mika asked him at his locker after school one day towards the end of May.

"Yeah, what's up?"

Mika avoided Neji's gaze, and he instantly could tell that something was wrong. His heart began to pound in his chest. He could sense what was happening.

"I think we need to break up," she forced herself to say.

"What? Why?" he asked, completely confused. As far as he could tell, their relationship was more solid than it had ever been. Why was this happening now? Was it because she was graduating? Neji didn't mind keeping a long distance relationship while she went off to college. He loved her.

"I just…I…" she struggled to find the right words to say. "I don't want to hurt you anymore."

"You haven't hurt me at all," he argued.

"I have. Just trust me on this one, okay? I can't keep doing this to you."

"What are you talking about?"

She took a deep breath to calm herself. "I cheated on you."

"What?"

"Please don't make me say it again."

"With who?"

"You don't know them…not all of them anyways."

"Them?" he asked, his heart breaking into millions of tiny pieces.

Tears streamed down Mika's face as she nodded to confirm. "I'm so sorry Neji. It wasn't that I didn't love you or anything, because I do. I love and care about you more than anything, but I wasn't thinking straight, and I couldn't stop myself."

He slammed his locker door and stormed off, leaving her sobbing alone.

Neji fought off his tears until he got home and could lock himself in his room. For the next week, Neji was the unhappiest he's ever been in his life, even more than when his father was killed in a car accident. He loved Mika so much he didn't know how to function without her. It killed him inside to have to see her in history class every day, to know that he'd never get a text from her again, or be able to touch her.

When he was little, and he didn't know how to deal with his emotions of no longer having a father, he turned to self-harm and Mika leaving him made him feel the same way again. He got his hands on those razor blades and once he started he couldn't stop.

Hiyeri realized how heartbroken her son was over his first big break up, and wanted to help, but knowing her son he just needed space to grieve. Wearing pants and hoodies in summer weather was nothing new for Neji, it was just part of his "emo" nature, and Hiyeri knew that, so she thought nothing of it when Neji began wearing long sleeves to hide what he had done.

His friends didn't know how to handle the situation. They knew Neji was upset, and they wanted to help, but they didn't know how to. Sasuke and Naruto both tried to get him to come over and play videogames, or something to keep his mind occupied with something else. He almost agreed, but then he saw Mika with her friends in the hallway and declined the offer. Shikamaru debated giving him some pot to calm him down a little, but he took notice to the addict in Neji that was showing for the first time in years and decided that it wouldn't be a smart move.

For two weeks, Neji didn't do anything but lock himself in his room. He cried, silently to himself, of course. He was angry, and he didn't know how to channel his emotions into anything but destruction. He continued to cut himself, and destroy everything Mika had ever given him.

Hiyeri came home after work one day, only to hear loud crashing sounds and screams coming from her son's bedroom. She ran up the stairs to find Neji throwing everything he ever painted of Mika at the wall, breaking the canvas's over his knee and punching holes where her face was.

"Neji, stop!" she yelled at him. When he didn't listen to her, she surveyed the scene in front of her and access the damage. That was when she saw the razor blades littering the floor. Neji was about to throw another painting when Hiyeri jumped in front of him and got her arms around him. She pulled him to the floor and held him so he couldn't hurt himself or his rooms anymore.

She got her hands around his arms and turned them over to take a look at just how much self-mutilation he had succeeded in. "Neji," she sighed, "tell me what happened."

"S-she cheated on me," he choked out.

Hiyeri tightened her hug around Neji and said, "Honey, I have to take you to the hospital, okay? Just like last time, I'll help you pack a bag, sound good?"

He wiped his tears and nodded. This was nothing new to him, he had a lot of problems in middle school with depression and sadness about growing up without a dad. He had done the same thing then and had to go to the hospital. For a while he went to therapy, but he hated that and his mom helped him channel his emotions into his art. Just that worked until now.

"There's only a week left of school," Neji said.

"I know. You're not going, I'm not waiting for you to get worse. We're going to solve this problem now, before it's too late."

Neji nodded. He sent a text to his friends to let them know what was going on.

A week later, Neji returned from the hospital, feeling a lot better. He was still hurt by the break up, but he's grown to accept it. Neji vowed, that he would never fall in love again after Mika. He would be with whomever he wanted, whenever he wanted, for as long as it was convenient for him. He grew cold, and careless. Nobody really approved of Neji's attitude on life, but it was better than hurting himself.

His addiction to cutting didn't go away overnight. It took Neji a long time to ween himself off the razors again, his mom understood that, and tried to very best to get him to channel his emotions into something else. She bought him new canvases, new paint, new brushes, anything to inspire him to do something other than cutting himself.

Hiyeri found Neji staring up at his ceiling one afternoon. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Can I paint this?" he asked pointing upwards.

"The ceiling?" she questioned.

"Yeah," he replied without taking his eyes off the blank canvas above him.

She thought about her sons request for a moment, then answered, "Yeah, I guess that would be okay. But the paint you have isn't going to work. You're going to have to go to the hardware store and get some wall paint."

"That's fine with me."

She entered his bedroom, crossed her arms and looked up at his bedroom ceiling, "What are you going to paint?"

"I'm not sure yet," was his reply.

"Listen to me for a second, okay?" she asked.

Neji finally tore his gaze off of the ceiling at looked at his mother. "What is it?"

"If you don't want to, we don't have to tell your uncle every detail about what happened. I know Hiashi likes to know all details of your life, but frankly, I don't think this is any of his business, not matter how much he liked Mika."

"Thanks." Neji crossed his room to pick up some of the broken frames that still remained from last week's breakdown and tossed them in a garbage bag he had brought up to his room. "Can we pretend that Mika never happened, please?"

"That sounds extremely unhealthy to just ignore the fact that eight months of your life happened, but if that's what you want, for now, we can forget that she ever existed. I don't think you should forget though."

"I'm not going to forget the things that happened, I'm just going to pretend that they didn't happen with her."

Hiyeri pressed her lips into a thin line and contemplated what the right thing to say next was. "You'll fall in love again."

"I refuse to do that ever again."

"Neji…"

He didn't say another word to her. He made his decision on how he was going to live his life, and nobody was going to change his mind.

 **A/N: And that marks the end of what happened between Neji and Mika! The next chapter will be back to the real story, and eventually Tenten will have her own little chapters about what happened between her and her ex. Review please!**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Tenten

Tenten awoke to the sound of a door slamming from the floor below her. When she realized that she wasn't in her bed, she freaked out a little, then she remembered the party, and Neji. She pushed herself up onto her elbows to survey her surroundings. Neither she nor Neji were naked and they weren't under the covers, both good signs.

Neji stirred beside her, and groaned as he too pushed himself up onto his elbows. He glanced at Tenten and asked, "What time is it?"

She reached for her phone in her back pocket, and replied, "One."

"Shit," Neji mumbled climbing off the bed and going for a new shirt to change into. He cracked open his bedroom door and listened intently for any disturbances downstairs. He heard the sounds of pans clanging together from the kitchen, and something sizzling on the stove. He closed his door, and crossed his bedroom to his closet. He dug around for a while and tossed Tenten a more appropriate shirt.

"Who's is this?" she asked, taking notice that it definitely wasn't a males t-shirt.

"Hinata's I think. I'm not really sure. A lot of people have left a lot of things here over the years."

"Comforting." Tenten pulled off her crop top, stuffed it into her bag and put on the t-shirt Neji gave her.

"If she asks," Neji started, "we were at Shikamaru's finishing a project all night and we got back an hour ago."

"Uh…okay?"

"And I was just showing you my paintings upstairs," he finished.

"Got it." Tenten followed Neji out of his room and down the stairs to the living room and then the kitchen.

"Hi mom," Neji said, "how was the meeting?"

"It went well," she replied looking up from the pan she was currently frying bacon in. She was startled when she saw Tenten following close behind her son. "Uh, hello."

Tenten smiled shyly and waved slightly.

"Mom, this is Tenten. She wanted to see my paintings before I took her home, I hope that was okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine," she replied. "When did you get back from Shikamaru's?"

"About a half hour ago."

"I assume neither of you have eaten yet, then. Tenten, would you like to join us for a really late breakfast?"

"Um, if you want me to," Tenten responded, looking to Neji for help on getting out of this mess.

Tenten and Neji both set the table and helped Hiyeri carry in the food from the stove to the breakfast nook. Half way through breakfast, and listening to Hiyeri ask them about the nonexistent project they had spent all night on, Neji's mom turned the conversation to her.

Tenten was in the middle of swallowing her bite of pancakes when Hiyeri asked, "Tenten, are you on birth control?"

Tenten choked.

"Mom!" Neji snapped.

"What, it's just a question," she defended. "I like to know that the girls my son sleeps with are being protected."

"Tenten and I are not sleeping together!"

Tenten had never felt so awkward in her entire life. Here was Neji, someone she hardly knew, arguing with his mother, who she had just met moments ago, about whether or not she was going to get impregnated by her son.

Hiyeri continued, "I see that hickey on your neck, don't lie to me."

"It's not from her," Neji glared at his mother.

"Then who's it from? Sasuke? Shikamaru? I know you weren't partying last night, correct?"

Neji sat back in his chair and crossed his arms across his chest, "It's old," he tried to lie.

"It wasn't there before you left last night."

"It was, you just didn't see it."

Hiyeri paused and looked to Tenten, "I'm so sorry you have to listen to this. My son doesn't like to listen to my instructions when he's being punished."

Tenten said nothing.

"I wasn't partying last night, I promise. I was at Shikamaru's, like a told you yesterday, working on a project for school."

"Neji Hyuga…" her tone was menacing.

Tenten glanced at the hickey on Neji's neck. It didn't look too much like a hickey anymore, and more like just a regular bruise. "Didn't you and Naruto get into a fight last night? Maybe he got you in the neck when he jumped you."

Neji stared at her for a second, and once he realized that she was attempting to cover his ass, he said, "Oh yeah, maybe."

"You guys did knock over a few tables."

Hiyeri blinked, confused. She knew that her son was lying about working on a project, but she wasn't totally sure that he was at a party. He wasn't acting hungover, and he didn't show any signs of being high. She had just met Tenten, and there was no reason not to believe her. She had to surrender her fight and just accept that their story could be the truth. "Fine."

After the table was cleared, Neji drove Tenten home. "I'm sorry about that."

"No, it's okay," she replied, "your moms just looking out for you. She seems cool otherwise."

Neji grinned, "She's okay sometimes."

"She knows about…you know…everything?"

"Yeah, she knows."

"Even the teachers?" Tenten asked, even though she knew that that question could be a little more touch-y than the others.

"She knows about Ama Sensei, since she was the one to call the police."

"That must have been awkward?"

Neji shrugged, "not really since I planned it all."

She stared at him, completely flabbergasted. "How could you be so cruel? She had her entire life ahead of her, and you ruined it, just because you could!?"

"Calm down, it wasn't like I did it just because I could. She needed to be stopped. You're new to Konoha High, so you don't know the entire story. Ama Sensei had be blackmailing her male students for a long time to get them to sleep with her. Guys don't report that stuff, so I took one for the team."

"Was she the first teacher you slept with?"

"Yeah."

"That's gotta mess with you psychologically."

"I don't think so," he answered. "The way I look at it; I got laid, and saved a lot of guys, a lot more vulnerable than me from getting their lives ruined."

"But you kept sleeping with teachers."

"What can I say? I like experience," he shrugged it off like it was nothing.

"Doesn't it get lonely?" Tenten asked, "sleeping with all these different girls, none of which you actually love?"

"Hinata asked me that same question, just a few days ago."

"Does it?"

"No."

"Have you ever been with someone that way that you did love?"

"I have."

"And?"

"I don't talk about it."

"Can you at least tell me her name?"

"If you won't tell me the name of your ex, I won't tell you mine."

That was fair. Maybe the one Neji loved was a lot older than them, like Tenten's ex and he couldn't talk about it? But that wouldn't make sense if he openly talked about his multiple affairs with his teachers. Or maybe it was deeper than that? Maybe Neji was hurt by this girl, badly. She understood that feeling well. Tenten remembered hurting so bad when _he_ had dumped her that she felt like she wanted to die…Neji did have scars on his wrists, after all, but those could be about anything.

Neji pulled into Tenten's driveway, but she didn't feel like she wanted to leave his company yet. "Last night, when you kissed me," she mused aloud, "what were you thinking?"

"Nothing really, why?"

"Were you just hoping I'd be another girl for your sketch book?"

Neji didn't say anything while he pondered for the right thing to say.

"I mean, it's okay if that's what you were thinking…I've hooked up with people before too, without wanting to do anything else, I get it." Tenten wasn't sure she believed the words that were coming out of her mouth.

"I just wanted to kiss you," he finally answered, "I didn't even think about having any other intentions."

Tenten could feel her cheeks heat up a little while she smiled into her lap. "You should do just that more often. You're good at it."

"I've had a lot of practice."

"I never kissed anyone with a lip ring before. It was fun."

He chuckled. "I never kissed a Prime Minister's granddaughter before."

Tenten's grin faded. "I should probably go inside. My mom's going to be wondering where I am soon."

As she was gathering her things to exit Neji's car, he grabbed her wrist to stop her. She looked up to meet his gaze. Her eyes widened when she felt his lips on hers. Before she got the chance to kiss Neji back, he had pulled away. "I'll see you at school tomorrow, Tenten."

Her smile returned, "Yeah, see you tomorrow." She climbed out of Neji's car and walked up her driveway to the front door, where she let herself in. After closing the door behind her, she leaned up against the frame and sighed, happily.

She hadn't noticed her father on the couch, reading the newspaper until she heard the familiar sound of him clearing his throat. "I hope that kiss was enjoyable."

"Dad!" she yelled at him, completely flushed. "You were spying on me!?"

He laughed, "no, of course not. But, nobody comes home from a sleepover and sighs like that. I just hope the sleepover wasn't with him."

"It wasn't," she lied, "a bunch of us ended up falling asleep while working on a project for school. He just gave me a ride home."

He smiled and asked, "Us?"

"Yeah…I kind of made a few friends this past week."

"I'm so glad," he replied, "I can already see the change in you. I like seeing you happy. Now, what's his name?"

"Dad!"

"What?" he raised his hands in defense, "I'm just curious about who my daughters kissing is all. Tell me about him."

"I don't know…" she looked away, embarrassed.

"I'm just asking his name."

"Neji," she replied. "Neji Hyuga."

"Why does that name sound so familiar?" he asked.

"His uncle owns Hyuga Corp."

"Ah, yes, that's it. He's a good kid then, you can date him."

"Ha…ha…" she laughed awkwardly.

"Sorry, sorry…it's probably too early for you to be thinking about dating him."

"Yeah…that's the main concern…" It wasn't. Tenten's main concern was how many people he's played with over the years, the teachers he's slept with, the fact that she only knew of one person he was in love with. "I think I'm in over my head."

"Oh sweetie," he said putting his hand on her shoulder and sitting beside her on the other couch. "It'll be okay, if it's meant to be, everything will work out okay."

"I don't even know if I want to date him," she mumbled.

"Sometimes it takes a little time to be sure. It took your mom years to finally accept a date from me, but I knew she was the one and kept on pushing, now here we are, twenty years later."

"I'm not looking to marry the guy, dad!"

"I know, I know. But if he's a Hyuga, you should jump on that wagon. That family is very well respected and talked about in the highest regard. They're well behaved, polite, and they don't listen to the weird music your into and cover themselves in piercings like some of those other boys you've brought home."

"I don't think we're talking about the same Hyuga's…"

"Of course we are, Honey. Why do you say that?"

She shrugged, not sure she wanted to tell her father all about the boy and his piercings she had just made out with on his bed only ten hours ago. She settled on saying, "he's really good at painting."

"Really? That's exciting for you."

"I guess," she said remembering the hundreds of other girls he had decorating the pages of all his sketchbooks.

"You don't sound like you like this boy very much, Tenten."

"Like I said earlier, I don't know if I want to date him. I think he'll be a good friend though."

"As long as you're happy, that's all that matters." He patter is daughter on the back and stood. "I have a meeting at the firm, and then I'm going to stop downtown to pick up a few things, is there anything you need?"

"Some new shading pencils would be nice, and if you're feeling extra generous, that camera from the 20s in the window of the camera place would be nice," she grinned.

"I love you, but I don't love you enough to spend $800 on an old camera you're not even going to use."

"My birthday's coming up," she tried to bargain.

"It's not happening, my dear."

"I know, its okay. I'm satisfied with what I have."

Tenten watched her father gather his things for work, and walked him out of the house. When she returned to the living room, there was a signal that she had gotten a text. Unlocking her phone, there was a text from Ino: _We saw you doing the walk of shame this morning from Hinata's bedroom. We want details, NOW!_

Tenten rolled her eyes and replied: _Nothing happened. Even if it did, I don't kiss and tell, sorry._

She tossed her phone to the other side of the couch and pulled her laptop out from the shelf underneath the side table. She had pictures to edit, she didn't have time to be thinking about kissing boys, even if the boy she was kissing was so goddamn good at it.

 **A/N: It's almost 2am, so I apologize for any errors in this chapter. Review please!**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Tenten

For the next few weeks, Tenten was seen with Neji a lot. They sat next to each other at lunch, Neji walked her to each of her classes and to her mom's car after school, sometimes he drove her home himself, or he drove her back to his house to _do homework_. Their friends were getting suspicious, they all knew that something was going on between Neji and Tenten, but they couldn't figure out what.

The evidence of _something_ was very obvious. They held hands in the hallway, they flirted…very obnoxiously one might add. Teachers gave them looks in the hallway, a few even asked if they were seeing each other, to which, they both replied, "no."

Temari was convinced they were dating; Ino, Sakura and Hinata thought that they liked each other, but hadn't made it official yet; Naruto and Sasuke were sure that they were sleeping together, since Neji didn't date; and Shikamaru and Lee didn't think they were anything more than just friends.

Tenten wasn't sure how she felt about the situation. She liked Neji…she _really_ liked Neji, however, she didn't like his attitude about girls, or that he never told her anything, or that he only kissed her when they were alone, or that whenever they went to a party together, he always ditched her to make-out with or dance with someone else.

Temari was driving Tenten, Hinata, Sakura and Ino to the mall for a girl's night. Ino and Sakura were leading a conversation about something Tenten wasn't paying attention to when Temari said, "Hello? Earth to Tenten?"

Tenten looked up to meet her friends' gazes and snapped herself out of her funk, "oh, sorry, what was the question?"

"Nothing important," Ino said from the backseat.

"What are you thinking about so hard?" asked Sakura.

"Nothing," Tenten replied, bringing her stare back to the window.

"Is it Neji?" Ino asked, wiggling her eyebrows in a teasing manner.

"No…yeah…kinda."

"What's going on between you two?"

"I don't know, Ino. Nothing I guess."

"Okay, it's definitely not nothing. People that have nothing between them don't hold hands in the halls."

"Yeah, I agree," Sakura added.

"Do you even like him?" Temari asked.

Tenten shrugged, "maybe a little, but he's…"

"Yep," they all agreed.

"Has he showed any signs of liking you back when you're alone with him?" Sakura asked.

Tenten thought quietly to herself about how much she'd be okay with her friends knowing about her and Neji's pseudo-relationship, and how much Neji would want them to know. "He kissed me."

"What!?" Everyone gasped.

"When did that happen!?" Ino screeched.

"Which time?"

"It happened more than once!?" Temari asked.

"Yeah, but I can't tell if he wants more or if he just wants to make out with me until I'll have sex with him."

"To be completely honest," Ino thought aloud, "It doesn't seem like Neji even knows what he wants. He's definitely not trying to seduce you then ditch you, if that were the case, he would have done it already, but you guys keep hanging out, right?"

"Yeah. When it's just me and him, it's fun, but if we're at a party or some other social thing, he always ditches me to sleep with someone else."

"He's afraid of getting hurt again," Hinata finally chimed in.

"Definitely," Sakura agreed. "Tenten, what are you usually doing when Neji ditches you for someone else?"

"Nothing at all. Usually just talking."

"About?"

"I don't know!" Tenten threw her hands up in frustration with the multitude of questions, "life, I guess."

"Like, personal stuff?" Ino pushed.

"Sure."

"Tenten, we need specifics," Sakura ordered, "or else we can't help you."

"Yeah, give us an example." Temari clarified.

Tenten frowned, not wanting to let her friends in on all these details about her personal life. "Just last weekend, at Hotaru's lake house, we were sitting on the docks making out, and we were laughing about some stupid thing that happened in homeroom, then out of nowhere he got really quiet and just got up and left. I followed him back into the house, but he didn't say anything and the next thing I knew, he was pushing some chick up against the wall."

Everyone was quiet. Tenten sighed when no one had an answer for her.

"He's afraid of getting close to someone again…" Hinata mumbled.

"Mmhmm," Sakura nodded.

"Well, I think he likes you a lot," Ino piped in.

"But he thinks I'm going to hurt him like Mika did."

"He told you about Mika?" Hinata asked, completely shocked.

"Not exactly…I only know she exists because Ino mentioned it once, but I don't know any of the details."

"Neji will have to be the one to tell you," Sakura said.

"Yeah," added Hinata, "it was really bad."

For the rest of the ride to the mall, nobody spoke.

Neji

"So are you two fucking or what?"

Neji glared at the stupid blond. "Depends on who you're referring to."

"Tenten of course!"

"Then no."

Sasuke raised his eyebrow at his friend while he took a puff from the joint he had just taken from Shikamaru. "I find that extremely hard to believe."

"Why is that?" Neji asked crossing him arms across his chest, and leaned back into foot of the couch in Sasuke's basement.

"Because you're always together!" Naruto yelled.

"No we're not."

"Yeah you are," Shikamaru mumbled.

"So are you banging her or not?" Naruto asked.

"I literally just said that I wasn't."

"Not yet anyways," Sasuke added.

Neji glared at him.

"What? It's not totally unbelievable. You hold her fucking hand in the hallway, and you flirt with her _all_ the time, I thought Sakura and I were bad, but holy shit, you guys are obnoxious."

"We're not flirting."

"Yeah you are," Lee, Shikamaru, and Naruto all said.

"Whatever."

Naruto reached across the circle to grab the lighter from next to Sasuke. "Are you interested in her then?"

Neji frowned.

"So yes?" Lee asked.

"Clarify what you mean, Naruto," Shikamaru suggested.

"Are you planning on fucking her just to fuck her, or are you planning on getting a girlfriend?"

"Neither."

Sasuke scoffed, "yeah, 'cause that's realistic."

"Why not? I'm just friends with Sakura and Ino, aren't I?" Neji grabbed the joint from Sasuke's fingers and put it to his own mouth.

"That's different."

"How so?"

"Sakura already belongs to someone else, not that that's stopped you before, but she's Sasuke's. Ino is Ino…nobody wants to get into the mess, but Tenten's cool. She's not ugly, she's single, she's not annoying, and she obviously likes you." Naruto shrugged like it was no big deal.

"I don't date."

"Trust me Hyuga, we know."

Sasuke then added, "But don't you want to have what you had with Mika again? Now before you get all mad at me for bringing up that whore, let me get to my point. You've spent the last two and a half years venting your anger at Mika onto just about every female in our school. I'm sorry Neji, but get the fuck over it. Mika sucked, a lot, everyone knows that, but you need to move on."

"I've been moved on."

"No you're not," Lee treaded on thin ice, "If you were over it, you would have fallen in love again."

"And you haven't," Sasuke ended his rant proudly, "and now, there's this new girl, who's hot, knows how much of a whore you are, and still likes you."

"And she's all artsy and shit, like you," Naruto grinned.

Neji really didn't want to talk about this. He was too high to be mad at Sasuke for bringing up Mika, and the rest of them were too high to not push Tenten on him, even when he made it clear that he didn't want to talk about her. He liked Tenten, she was cool, and like his friends had said, she wasn't annoying. He knew that she liked him, it was obvious. Maybe he should hold back with the flirting and the hand holding and the kissing, but he didn't want to. He liked spending time with her, even when she just wanted to talk.

"I'm hungry," Naruto let out a puff of smoke.

"Same," Sasuke mumbled. "Ramen?"

"Obviously!"

Naruto and Sasuke ran up the basement stairs to Sasuke's kitchen, careful not to gain the attention of either of his parents waiting to bust them for smoking pot in their house. When Neji, Lee and Shikamaru followed the two close behind, Itachi was sitting at the table doing homework.

"Hey guys," he said looking up from his chemistry text book. "Got the munchies?"

"Quite literally," Lee replied.

"Shut up Lee," Sasuke snapped while he put the pan of water on the stove to boil, "my parents are in the other room!"

"No they're not. Mom left a while ago to have dinner with Kushina. I'm not exactly sure where dad went, but he's not here either."

"Good to know," Sasuke threw a semi-hard noodle at Naruto, who then threw it right back.

"It's been a while Neji," Itachi grinned, "how've you been? Still charming the pants off all the girls?"

Neji chuckled as he took a seat in the chair across from Sasuke's older brother. "You know it."

Itachi glanced to his brother, who was still fighting with Naruto over a noodle. Shikamaru and Lee got involved the minute Naruto picked up the boiling pot of water in retaliation to his friends harassments. Itachi figured now would be a good time to talk to Neji alone. "There's something I've been meaning to tell you, Neji. Got a second?"

Neji stared up at Itachi as he stood from his seat and nodded his head in the direction of the living room. "I guess." Neji followed him, but he was very confused.

In the living room, Itachi pulled the sliding door closed, which only made Neji even more uneasy about this entire situation. Sure, Sasuke and Neji had been close since diapers, but he and Itachi were anything but close, so why was he pulling him into another room to talk?

"What's up?" Neji asked.

"Have you heard from Mika at all recently?"

Neji stared at him, not knowing what to say. He hadn't been in contact with her at all, she wasn't even his friend on Facebook, he had absolutely no clue what was going on in the girl's life. "No, why?"

"She's getting married."

Neji blinked.

"I know, I was shocked too, but I figured you'd want to know, especially since its one of the guys she…" he trailed off, taking notice to the hurt buried deep within Neji's eyes. "She's coming back to Konoha too apparently."

"When?"

"I'm not totally sure. She's been in Osaka for school, but I guess her and her fiancée are coming back for the engagement party. I figured you'd want to be prepared if she tried to contact you at all."

Neji shrugged, "I doubt she'll try anything, but thanks for letting me know."

"Well you never know with her. Mika's always been very unpredictable."

Neji nodded in agreement, knowing exactly how unpredictable she truly can be. Everything about their relationship was unpredictable, and looking back, extremely tiring to keep up with her antics, but also so much fun, Neji almost forgot about how much he had to work to meet up with her needs. And how much he had to pay for it after she dumped him. He shuddered at the memory.

"Sorry for dropping this on you while you're high," Itachi apologized while making his way back to the kitchen, "better sooner than later."

He didn't reply. Back in the kitchen Sasuke was wrestling the cooked noodles out of Naruto's hands so he could put in the rest of the ingredients, but there was no way Naruto was going to let Sasuke touch his ramen.

"Neji!" Naruto hollered, "Hinata just texted me, apparently you need to call Tenten ASAP!"

"Why? What's wrong?"

"I don't think anything's wrong. Can't a girl just want to talk to her boyfriend?"

Neji glared at the blond.

"What?" Itachi asked confused.

"Shut the fuck up, Naruto!" Sasuke scolded, "If Hyuga says he's not fucking her, then he's not fucking her!"

"That's right," Lee agreed, "Neji's never been one for hiding who it is he's been intimate with."

Neji rolled his eyes at his friend's word choice and replied, "She's not my girlfriend."

"I thought Neji didn't date," Itachi teased.

"I don't." Neji pulled out his phone from his pocket to see if Tenten had texted him at all herself. She hadn't.

"Call her," Naruto pushed.

"No. I'm seeing her tonight, I'll talk to her then."

"Oooh," Naruto teased.

"Neji's gonna get laid," Sasuke grinned.

"No."

"Yes," the others in the room replied.

Itachi, who was completely lost at this point, had begun to gather his books and retreat to his bedroom upstairs, away from the distraction.

"You like her. A lot."

"No Naruto, I don't"

"Oh yeah? Tell me Neji, since you and Tenten have been hanging out, how many girls have you slept with?"

Neji paused, and thought for a moment. "A few."

"Names?"

Neji shrugged. "Nobody important."

"You always say that," Sasuke glared while handing out bowl of ramen to his friends, "but you always remember their names."

"And you always remember what they look like so you can draw them later," Shikamaru added.

Neji couldn't believe the words his friends were saying. They were exactly right. He never forgot, and he seriously could not remember a single one. He thought back to the lake house party at Hotaru's the other day, he knew he had slept with someone there, but all he could remember was the conversation he had with Tenten out on the boat docks. Their conversation even important, just small talk. He hadn't been drinking or doing drugs, so there was literally nothing that was preventing him from remembering who it was he had had sex with.

Tenten.

Neji bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself from overthinking the matter.

But he had to accept it. His idiot friends were right.

He liked Tenten.

 **A/N: I don't think I like this chapter, but I tried.**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Tenten and Sotaru

Part 1

"Dad, do I really have to go to work with you?" Tenten whined the entire way to her dad's law firm.

"Yes, you do. Now that your mom is working again, you have no choice. We can't have you sitting home alone all summer long with nothing to do. I could always use extra help in the office, and I'd love to be able to spend more time with you while you're off from school."

"I'm fifteen, I can be home alone!"

"Yes, you can, but not all day everyday all summer long. If it was a few hours during the day, I'd be more comfortable with leaving you home alone, but this is all day until mom gets off work. Sorry love, but you're stuck with me."

Tenten groaned. "But your office is so boring!"

"You have your camera, your laptop, your sketchbook and all your art supplies, I promise, you will be entertained when I don't need your help."

Tenten wanted to argue more, but she couldn't think of anything else to say. This was going to be one long summer break.

Tenten spent her days sitting in her father's office listening to him take phone calls, and watching him write up reports or whatever it is lawyers write on important documents. The only time she wasn't in his office was when he was meeting with a client, so she had no choice but to explore, or talk to his secretary in the waiting room.

She was perched on the back of the couch completing a sketch of Miss Shizune, her father's secretary, one day in July when she noticed that the usually empty desk that sat beside Shizune's was littered with paperwork, a brief case, and a suit jacket.

"Hey Shizune?" Tenten asked to get to woman's attention.

"What is it dear?" she smiled sweetly.

"Whose stuff is that?"

"Oh, that's Sotaru's things. You're father's intern."

Tenten didn't recall her father ever mentioning that her father had an intern. "Did he start today?"

"No, he started back in January, but he's just returned from visiting his grandparents in the States for two months."

"Oh." She went back to drawing in her sketchbook and thought nothing more of it, until the next day, when she saw him for the first time.

Sotaru was the most beautiful man Tenten had ever seen. His blond hair was messy, but in a neat, professional kind of way. He was tall, and skinny, but not too skinny, he definitely had some muscle to him. His eyes were bluer than the pencils she had worn down to the nub and his teeth whiter than the unmarked paper in her sketchbook. He was the definition of perfection.

"Hi Tenten," he smiled at her, "it's nice to finally meet you. You're father never shuts up about you. I'm Sotaru."

Like the day before, Tenten was perched on the back of the same couch. She couldn't move, all she could do was stare at this beautiful man in front of her. "H-hi," she finally choked out.

From that day forward, Tenten didn't mind going to work with her father every day. She spent less and less time being bored in her father's office, and more and more time sitting on the opposite side of Sotaru's desk. They talked a lot, mostly about meaningless things like what his family was like, and who his friends were. He showed a lot of interest in Tenten's life as well, especially when she drew.

Tenten laughed at everything Sotaru said, even when it wasn't that funny. He was so nice to her, and so good with everyone that came into the office. She was enraptured by both his physical appearance, and his personality.

"Tenten," he said to her once day while she was curled up in the chair that faced his desk, "what are you drawing?"

She froze, refusing to meet his gaze. She didn't want him to know that she was drawing him. What would that make him think of her? She knew exactly what he would think; _the weird high school emo girl, with the under part of her hair dyed hot pink, with the thick black eyeliner, and the yin and yang gauges in her ears, was in love with him._

"N-nothing," she said attempting to discretely flip to another page.

"Come on," he pressed, "let me see."

"No, it's not good," she lied, blush obviously dusting her cheeks.

"It can't be that bad," he laughed, then reached across his desk to playfully wrestle the book from her hands. She tugged back, really not wanting him to see her work, but she lost the battle and had no choice but to allow him to look through her sketchbook.

"Tenten, these are amazing!" he gawked at the images in front of him, "how could you say that they aren't good?"

"Thanks," she mumbled, averting her gaze.

She glanced back up to Sotaru, to see if he had gotten to her latest creation yet. He had. He stared at the sketch with wide eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, and she squeezed her eyes shut to prepare for any yelling that would be coming her way.

"Is this me?"

She opened her eyes to read the expression on his face. He wasn't angry at all, he was in complete awe. "Yeah," she answered softly.

"I'm completely blown away, Tenten. You're so talented!"

She couldn't fight her smile. She loved hearing such praise coming from his perfect lips. It made her feel warm, and made her heart flutter.

He handed the sketchbook back over the desk and she accepted the gesture. Before she left that night, Sotaru stopped her in the elevator and rode down to the lobby with her. It was quiet between the two of them until he hit the emergency stop button. Tenten freaked a little, not knowing exactly what would happen since there was obviously no emergency.

"Tenten…" Sotaru began. He looked as if he was internally fighting with himself about what to say next. "Your father told me something interesting today."

Tenten's jaw dropped…no…he didn't. She played dumb, "what was it?"

"Is it true? Do you have a crush on me?"

Tenten thought she would die of embarrassment right there. She thought right, her mom and told her father that she was crushing on the intern. She was going to kill her mother. She thought she was going to cry.

"I um…I…"

"Tenten, it's alright. You can tell me the truth."

She nodded slowly. "Yeah."

Tenten refused to look at him. If she hadn't been suicidal before, she definitely was in that moment. After she killed her mother for spilling her secret, she was going to jump off the nearest bridge.

She jumped slightly when she felt him place his hand on her shoulder. She shook herself mentally and forced herself to look up to him. He was smiling.

Wait.

What?

He turned to face her, and his hand went from her shoulder to her cheek. She couldn't breathe. He was touching her. He began to lean into her, and his smiled changed into a small pucker. When his lips met hers, her eyes instinctively closed. She had no idea what she was doing. Nobody's ever kissed him before, she felt stupid for not reacting.

He pulled away and brushed her cheek with the tips of his fingers once again. "I like you too."

No. This was some sick joke. There was no way someone as perfect as Sotaru liked her back. She was being punked. She had to be.

"I mean it," he added.

"I'm fifteen…" She mumbled. No. Now why the fuck would she say that? Tenten was going to ruin everything. She mentally slapped herself.

"I know," he frowned. "There's a big age difference between us, and we'll have to keep it a secret, especially from your parents, but I trust you, we can make this work."

"What is this?"

"Whatever you want it to be."

"Like…you're my boyfriend?"

"Yes! I'd love to be," he kissed her cheek. "Tenten, I know there's eleven years between us, but I've never felt a connection like this towards any other girl, you're special."

She sure felt special at that moment.

Sotaru flipped off the emergency stop button, and the elevator jerked as it began to descend once again. The entire ride down, she held his hand in a very happy silence.

Deep inside her, Tenten knew that this was wrong. He was eleven years older than her. He was graduated from college and she had only just started high school. She's never had a boyfriend before this, and it was exciting, but terrifying all at the same time. It wasn't like they could do anything too crazy, or that she planned to. She just enjoyed his company, and now his kisses as well.

They would take it slow…extremely slow.

In a few years she would be eighteen and everything will be okay. She could wait until then. She thought he could too.

How wrong she was.

 **A/N: I think like Neji and Mika's story, Tenten and Sotaru's will be three parts. Review please!**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Tenten and Sotaru

Part 2

For weeks, Tenten and Sotaru continued to see each other at her father's law firm. The two of them were very careful to keep their relationship a secret from those around them. Tenten's infatuation with him wasn't a secret from her parents. They knew their young daughter had a crush on the intern, and a crush wasn't taboo. However, the things Tenten and Sotaru did away from everyone else was definitely wrong in the eyes of just about all of Japan's population.

Tenten went to work with her father, even on the days she didn't have to, just in hope that she and Sotaru will get a moment alone to share a measly kiss. Tenten was stubborn, and needy in terms of affection from the older boy. Even if her father refused the intern a break, Tenten still got her kiss, or caress of the inner thigh, or brush of the knuckles while they followed her father down hallways. She wanted him so bad, more so than she had ever wanted another guy.

Sotaru was so mature compared to the guys she went to school with. He knew what he was doing with his life, and he knew how to reach his goals, and get what he wanted. Tenten was just one more thing he wanted. He had her wrapped around his finger. He had her lying to her parents about where she was. When he wanted to see her, she told her mother and father that she was hanging out with a school friend. Sotaru was always there to pick her up on the corner of her block when she "walked to her friend's house."

Getting what he wanted from Tenten was easy for him. All Sotaru had to do was tell her what she wanted her hear; "you're seriously perfect," "you're art is so amazing, you could win awards," "Tenten, you're absolutely beautiful." Any compliment he could give her, he did, because each and every word he spoke to her made Tenten do exactly what he wanted all while melting her into a puddle of helplessly in love goo.

Tenten had all her firsts with him. Her first kiss that was more than a stupid peck, her first make out, her first anything sexual. The day he told her he was falling hard for her, was the first time she allowed him to touch her breast while they made out on the couch in his apartment. The day he told her he thought she was the most amazing, more perfect woman alive, they put their hands down each other's pants. When he told her he loved her, Tenten gave herself to him. She felt the same way. She was head over heels in love with Sotaru, and she trusted him to take care of her. So she had sex with him, and she loved every second of it. She had no regrets.

Breathless, Tenten stared up at the white ceiling. She couldn't wrap her head around the fact that she had just had sex for the first time. "Not what I expected," she said to the man lying next to her.

Sotaru propped himself up on his elbow and brushed sweaty bangs from Tenten's eyes. "But?" he egged on.

"I liked it…a lot."

Sotaru chuckled. He collapsed back onto the bed and pulled the girl closer to him. He kissed her temple and mumbled, "I'm so in love with you."

She returned the gesture, capturing his lips.

From that moment on, Tenten used every excuse she could think of to hang out with the older man in his apartment and stay the night without her parents finding out. Each night, Tenten took to her sketchbook after they had just done something intimate, and captured every one of his positions perfectly.

The first drawing she had done of him were while he was at work at his desk, when she still only had a crush on him. Quickly, her sketches turned into his bare chest while he slept next to her, then his entire body, and eventually the drawings showed _everything_ in every intimate position she witnessed him in. Finally, the art form turned into digital pictures.

Tenten kept the pornographic pictures of her boyfriend hidden in the pages of her sketchbook. The moment she had them printed off, she deleted them from her camera and her computer…just in case her parents felt like snooping. But her sketchbook was never subject to being looked through since it was always on her, tucked away in the bottom of her backpack.

Tenten and Sotaru's relationship was quick, no longer than five months, give or take a few days. Their break up wasn't messy, Tenten was convinced she loved him, but after a while, she began to feel like he didn't feel the same way. Maybe on some level he liked her, but she didn't feel like her was in love with her like he said.

There was no feeling in his words other than lust. She began to feel used, which wasn't a good feeling at all. Tenten was never one to feel insecure. She was raised to have confidence in herself and in her appearance, no matter what anybody said. Even when her parents made her dress differently for her father's work parties, she was okay with it because she knew her parents loved her for who she really was, and her false appearance was only temporary to please those ignorant enough to find Tenten's style "inappropriate," or "ugly," or "skanky." But the way Sotaru complimented her was demeaning. Not the words, but the way they were delivered...forced, unbelievable.

"Sotaru, I think we need to break up." It was as simple as that. Eight little words.

And a quick reply, "Okay."

He wanted an explanation, she could tell by the look on his face, but he couldn't get himself to ask for one. She told him anyways, "I just don't feel the same way anymore." She didn't apologize, he didn't deserve that from her.

"Its fine, I understand. I haven't been feeling it so much myself lately."

She nodded a response, got up off his couch and left his apartment without another word.

In the month following their break up, Sotaru left her father's firm to start his career. He had dinner with her family one last time, as a farewell from her father. It was awkward between them to say the least. So much so that as soon as he left their house with Tenten's father to go out for drinks, she shut herself in her room and cried.

Tenten's mother immediately realized that something was wrong with her daughter and knocked lightly at her bedroom door, "Tenten sweetie, is everything okay?" Her mother entered the room without waiting for an okay to do so. "Honey what's wrong?" she asked as soon as she noticed her daughter's tears.

Tenten sat up in bed and wiped at her eyes. "It's nothing," she replied, sniffling.

Her mother's first instinct was that Tenten's crush on the young man was still present and that Tenten's emotions got the best of her when she realized that she might never see the boy again. Then she remembered how every other time Sotaru had been over to their house for dinner, there was a certain eye contact shared between the two of them, which screamed "I'm secretly having sex with you and everyone else in the room has no idea."

Her mother gasped at her realization, "Tenten, you didn't!"

Which only caused Tenten to cry harder. She collapsed into her mother's embrace and spilled everything. "I did mom…I slept with him. I know I shouldn't have, but I did. I loved him!"

"It's okay sweetie, everything will be okay." It wasn't, but right now, Tenten just needed comfort. Later, she would consult her husband about what to do about the adult male that had had sex with their minor daughter.

"Please don't tell dad, mom. Please."

Tenten's mother unwrapped her arms from around her daughter and grabbed her shoulder. She stared into her daughter's eyes to get her message across, "I have to tell your father. Sotaru is an adult, and you are a minor, he cannot be sleeping with you, it's inappropriate, not to mention illegal."

"Mom, no! I consented to everything, I thought I loved him and that he loved me. I really did love him, I still do, but I was tired of trying to hard when he put in such minimal effort to our relationship, so I ended it."

They spent the rest of the night talking. Tenten told her mom everything. Everything except the sketches she made and the pictures she took. Her mother didn't need to know about that. Eventually Tenten convinced her mother that her father didn't need to know any of this. It would ruin him. He would never trust another boy around his daughter, and he'd never trust her again either. Tenten's mother agreed, then gave her daughter the longest sex talk in the history of the earth. She made sure that Tenten was clear about needing to love herself, and the man she was sleeping with before completing the action. Also that if there was ever a part of her that screamed "no," she needed to listen to her inner voice. She finished her talk, like any good parent with, "and remember to always use protection."

"Mom, I've been on birth control since I was fourteen."

"Yes, you have been, but that was to regulate your hormones, not to give you a green light to have sex. Not until you were much, much older."

Tenten wiped the remaining tears from her eyes and replied, "Obviously that didn't happen."

"No, it didn't, but from now on you'll wait for the right guy, correct? Sex is something that can be very emotional for young girls, boys too even, and I would hate for you to be this torn up about having sex with the wrong boy ever again."

"I don't believe that Sotaru was the wrong guy, I really did love him, mom."

"Honey, I know it doesn't feel that way right now, but when you finally find the right guy, and you and he make love, you'll know how wrong Sotaru was for you."

Tenten fought the cringe that was creeping its way up her spine due to her mother's word choice. She forced herself to nod.

"I'll leave you alone for the night. Your father will be home soon, and I don't think you want him interrupting this particular conversation."

"You're not going to tell him, are you?"

"No. Not this time, but any other future partners you may have before you move out, he will hear about."

"That's reasonable."

"I love you sweetheart, please don't keep these things from me, I'm here to help you out."

"I know, thanks mom. I love you too."

 **A/N: I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to update this. I've been pretty busy as of late, and I just haven't had the inspiration. Also, this whole Tenten/Sotaru thing just wasn't writing itself like the Neji/Mika stuff did for me. I originally wanted Tenten's chapters to be three parts as well, but like I said, I wasn't feeling it, and wanted it done, so I'm sorry if it sucks, because I definitely feel like it does. Anyways, please drop a review! I love hearing from everyone!**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Tenten

"What's with the get up?" Tenten opened her front door to reveal Neji dressed in a black suit; tie and all. "I thought we were just going to watch a movie."

"Do you want to go to a business party with me tonight?" Tenten barely got the chance to let him inside before the question left his lips.

She was caught a little off guard. "Yeah, sure. Just you and me?"

"Well, and everyone else. Sorry, I know this isn't really what you wanted to do tonight, but it was kind of last minute and I guess my uncle wants us all there."

"Any idea why?"

Neji slid off his dress shoes and followed Tenten up the stairs to her bedroom. He had never been inside her house before, but he felt oddly comfortable just walking through the halls. "I think he's trying to guilt me into taking over the company. He made a point about allowing me and everyone to show up with all piercings and tattoos showing."

She looked back at him and asked, "You have tattoos?"

"No. Hinata, Sasuke, Ino and Shikamaru do though."

"I knew about Hinata's. I'm assuming Hiashi doesn't know about it?"

He grinned, "He will after tonight."

"What are you planning, Neji?" They reached the second floor to Tenten's house where her bedroom was located only five feet away. She opened her bedroom door and went to her closet to find something Neji would approve for the formal evening ahead of them.

"Let's just say that after we're done, Hiashi will never ask me to take over the company again and he'll have no choice but to allow Hinata to do so." He watched Tenten carefully remove each dress from her closet and drape them carefully across her bed.

"Try not embarrass yourself in the process. How formal are we talking here?"

Neji chuckled deep in his throat. "I don't get embarrassed, you should know that from what I told you about setting up Ama sensei last year."

"True, you did plan for your mother to find the two of you in bed together." She stared at him for a second, then back to her dresses. "Are you going to help me pick out a dress or are you just going to leave me hanging?"

"Oh sorry. One of the long ones."

She scooped up the short dresses off her bed and went to the closet to put them away.

"The sexier the better."

"Then that would be this one." Tenten picked up a sleek black, long sleeved dress that sparkled in the light. She turned the hanger around to reveal that the dress had no back.

"Nice." He raised an eyebrow in approval.

"Heels or flats?"

"Definitely heels, but don't be taller than me."

"You talk like I'm your date."

"You are. Don't let the excitement get to your head."

She laughed. "Just don't drag me down with you when your plan fails."

"You gotta give me more credit than that Tenten. When Shikamaru and I come up with something, there's a zero percent chance of failure. And you're not a very good girlfriend if you don't go down with the ship."

"I'm not your girlfriend."

"No, but you want to be."

She frowned at him, "you don't date."

"Tonight I am, so just be prepared for anything."

"And after the party's over, then what are we?" she challenged, only because she really, really wanted to be Neji Hyuga's girlfriend, his real one, not his fake one for a single night.

"Depends on how you look in that dress."

"You're disgusting." She picked up the dress and hung it on the back of her door. When she turned back around he was in front of her, only inches away. She gasped, startled. Her heart began to pound against her chest, and not because she was startled. "Neji, what are y-"

Neji cut her off by pressing his finger to her lips. "Are your parents' home?" he whispered.

"My mom's in the office." She was about to ask why he wanted to know, when his lips pressed gently against hers. It was only a simple peck, however, it still made Tenten's insides feel like goo. She wanted to kiss him again.

"What was that for?" she asked, pulling herself together.

"To get you into character."

"For being your fake girlfriend?"

He didn't answer her question, instead he changed the subject, "I'll be in the hallway, get dressed. Your chariot awaits in the driveway."

She sighed, shutting her bedroom door behind him. She was slightly irritated that he wanted her to pretend to be his girlfriend for the night, when she and just about everyone else knew that there was no chance Tenten could ever be his real girlfriend. Unless by some miracle, Neji stopped liking one night stands so much. She got dressed and slipped on her heels. She fixed her make-up to get it to look more like it wasn't what she had on all day, and redid her typical buns. She added a few glittery pins to hair to glam up a bit, and when she was finished, she exited her room to find Neji just where she left him.

Tenten followed Neji down the stairs to the main level. Her heels clicked loudly against the hardwood floors, no doubt gaining the attention of one, if not both of Tenten's parents. She cursed herself silently when she heard the door to the office click open, and her mother's footsteps coming closer.

"Will you be out late tonight Tenten?" she asked, coming into the foyer.

"Uh, yeah…I don't know what time I'll be back, I'll text you if it's later than one."

"You both look very nice." She looked at Neji and said, "Hi, I'm Tenten's mom, you must be Neji, it's nice to finally meet you."

Neji smiled softly, "yeah, you too."

"Where are you going so dressed up?"

"My uncle's having a party for his company tonight and he's asked me to invite all my friends. It's just at the Hyuga Corp. building, so we won't be too far away."

"Alright, well, have fun tonight."

Tenten tried her best to get Neji out the door and away from anything else her mother might say to him, but she failed to dodge her mother's usual "make good choices" and "don't do anything stupid" whenever she went out with a boy.

"So you talk to your mother about me?" Neji grinned.

"You wish. My dad is your uncle's lawyer remember? I know you, so they ask questions…and my dad saw us making out in the car once."

"Classy."

"That was your fault."

"No, I mean your dad spying on us."

"Yeah, whatever. Let's just go, I'm dying to find out how this plan of yours will turn out."

Neji

"I am so fucking ready for this!" Naruto yelled, a little too loud as always, while they waited in the parking lot of Hyuga Corporations for the rest of their friends to arrive.

"So we're actually doing this?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah," Neji replied with Shikamaru.

"And you don't think any part of this could go bad?" Sakura glared at the boys.

"The plan is solid."

"I wouldn't really call this a plan…" Ino mumbled while brushing her fingers through a snarl in her hair.

"All we have to do is act like ourselves. Not that hard," added Lee.

"Except for Hinata and Naruto. You two better be on your best fucking behavior if we want this to work out." Shikamaru ordered.

"Are you high yet Hyuga?" Sasuke asked, obviously impatient.

"Calm down, there's only so much weed I can smoke in ten minutes."

"You just need your eyes to be bloodshot."

"No shit."

While Neji and Sasuke argued, Tenten was beginning to feel the chill of February in her bones. Her dress was long, and covered just about everything, but she couldn't help but shiver with the wind.

Neji took notice to her discomfort and wrapped his free arm around her and pulled her closer. "Are you cold?"

"A little," she shivered against him.

"Here," Neji placed the blunt he was smoking between his lips and shrugged off his suit coat and wrapped it around Tenten's slender shoulders. "Take my jacket."

"Thanks."

Naruto and Sasuke stared at him in disbelief. The last time he did that for a girl was with Mika. Lee almost screamed about how love was in the air for his best friend, but he decided against it, not wanting to get hit by the same friend.

"Are we going in anytime soon or what?" Naruto asked.

"Give me a second," Neji said taking one last puff of the joint in his hand. He stomped what was left of it out on the black top and pulled Tenten along with him towards the entrance. Everyone else followed close behind.

Hinata and Naruto entered the ballroom first, and almost immediately they were swarmed by people that worked for the company and complete strangers that were looking to buy into a deal. Neji and Tenten slipped inside with the rest of their friends, almost unnoticed. Neji spotted his mother across the room talking to one of his father's old partners. Best to avoid her tonight.

Sasuke and Sakura went right to the bar, and showed their fake IDs to the bar tender. They got their drinks and went over to the couches. Shikamaru and Temari found the richest, most famous business tycoons in attendance, some Shikamaru knew from previous deals, some he was determined to turn into new customers. By the end of the night, Shikamaru will have them all blackmailed.

"Neji," Tenten whispered, "my father's here."

Neji followed Tenten's gaze to where his uncle and her father were in the middle of a very important looking conversation. "Shit…" The last thing Neji wanted was to drag Tenten down with him, he just needed her there as a scapegoat whenever someone tried talking to him and he needed to get out.

"What do we do?"

"Hold on, let me think." He looked around the room, calmly. Sasuke and Sakura were in the middle of swapping saliva on the couch, they wouldn't be of any help, and Shikamaru and Temari were busy with their own part of the plan.

"Neji, we're just going to have to play it by ear," Lee said from beside him.

"Yeah," added Ino, "we knew your mom was going to be here, we'll just have to treat Tenten's father's attendance the same way. Just avoid it."

Neji and Tenten both nodded in agreement.

"Neji! I haven't seen you in years!"

The four of them spun around to see who was behind the voice. When Neji realized who it was he replied, "It's nice to see you again. Tenten, Lee, Ino, this is Minami Nanase, she and her husband are one of the company's investors."

"Nice to meet you," said Ino, "Lee and I have some things to do, so sorry we can't stick around and chat." Ino grabbed onto Lee's arm and dragged him across the ballroom to where Hinata and Naruto had freed themselves from conversing with strangers.

"How have you been, Neji? I think the last time we saw each other was at one of these things. You were so young then. Have you graduated yet?"

"I've been pretty good," he replied, "I'm a third year, so I still have another year left unfortunately."

"It'll go by fast. I hear you're going to be taking over the company after college. That must be exciting."

"My uncle insists that I take over, but honestly, I have no interest in the family business."

"Well you have a lot of time to figure out what you want for sure. I wish you the best of luck."

"Thank you Ma'am."

Mrs. Nanase turned to leave, but she stopped herself. Turning back around she said, "Neji, are you still seeing that girl? Mika, I think was her name."

Neji felt Tenten's hand take his and squeeze. The reassurance was just what he needed to keep himself from losing his mind. "No, I'm not." He looked at Tenten and smiled. "Tenten and I have actually been dating for a little while now."

"Oh of course! I should have put two and two together when I saw her on your arm. I do apologize dear."

"It's quite alright, but Tenten and I must be joining our friends. It's was nice to see you again."

"And you as well."

Neji and Tenten turned to leave their conversation. Tenten had never seen Neji act so professional before. Neji was a totally different person here than what he was really like. It seemed so fake. This entire situation.

Like Neji had said, they joined the rest of their friends where Naruto was busy eating from the plate of horderves he gathered for everyone.

"I know we've only been here for a little while," Sasuke started, "but I'm getting really sick of all these rich old people talk shit about us…I wanna leave."

"What have you heard?" Ino asked.

"It seems like everyone has something to say about you, Neji."

Neji shrugged, "whatever. That's nothing new."

"No, seriously, literally everyone has something to say, whether it's about your dad or what or whom you choose to do in your free time."

"Sakura, that's a typical thing to hear at a party like this," Neji promised.

"Well I don't like it."

"It's just something you learn to live with," Hinata smiled sadly. "It's unfortunate, but these people talk, a lot. Nothing's a secret in this business."

"Why do you want to run this place again?" Ino asked.

"Because it's the family business," she answered.

"And that's exactly why I want no part of it," Neji added.

They were quiet while they finished off the plate of food in Naruto hands. The group watched the goings on around them, and silently judged. At the same moment, Hinata and Neji both tensed.

"What is it?" Tenten asked, taking notice.

"My grandfather's here."

"Neji if he realizes what we're really do here…" Hinata whispered.

"I know, I know." Neji could feel the panic building inside of him. The man across the room was worse than Hiashi, but unlike Hiashi, their grandfather had the power to ruin lives. He was what fear feared. And he had never liked Neji…so that was another blow.

"Shit, he's coming over here."

"Hello grandfather!" Hinata spoke first, "What a pleasant surprise!"

He glanced at the girl, but ignored her completely. "Neji," he spoke. "It's rare to see you here."

"Yeah." Neji didn't know what else to say. "Uncle invited us."

Tenten had never seen Neji so unsure of what to do. He was always confident…always had a plan…always knew how to handle a sticky situation. For fucks sake, he screwed himself over just to get a shitty teacher thrown in prison for sleeping with her students. She went to take his hand, but he flinched away.

"I'm glad you've attended. It's been a while since we last saw each other. However, I must inform you that the metal in your face is not appropriate for this evening."

"Uncle said-"

"I don't care what Hiashi said. I'm telling you now…take it out. You look ridiculous. All of you."

Tenten could almost hear every single one of her friends gulp. This guy was intense.

"I'm not going to do that," Neji said mostly to himself to get his confidence back, but his words were definitely heard by the old man in front of him.

"Excuse me? Neji, you are the heir to this company, I will not tolerate this from you. You have a responsibility to uphold to."

Neji said nothing while he stared the man down.

"I was in denial that what I've heard about you recently were true, but now I see that those rumors are anything but false."

"What do you mean, Grandfather?" he asked.

The man's frown deepened. "The things you and your friends do in your free time is unacceptable. I've heard you have been partying, but I couldn't believe it. I was wrong about you. When your father died, I knew I should have had your mother remarry…the way she's raised you is horrible. This wouldn't have happened if there was a man involved."

Everyone's jaw dropped. On the inside, Neji was fuming, but he kept himself calm.

"You're wrong. The way I am has nothing to do with how my mother raised me. It has everything to do with being forced to take over a company I want no part of, and seeing my father killed in that accident."

In that moment, everything made sense to Tenten. She knew Neji had suffered from depression because of the scars on his wrists. She had no idea Neji saw his father die…he had PTSD too…and like she, Neji had a society he didn't belong in force on himself his entire life.

When his grandfather didn't say anything, Neji continued, "You really want to know what I do in my free time, grandfather? I have sex…a lot. I've slept with a lot of women, I have entire sketch books dedicated to the women I've been with, a lot of whom are my teachers and classmates. Some total strangers. I go to parties, drink and do a whole lot of drugs. In fact, before I came here, I smoked a whole bunch of weed. I even tried to kill myself once, that was really fun, and it was all because that girl I was dating the last time we saw each other broke my heart. She cheated on me with multiple guys, and now, she's marrying one of them! Oh God, what else…I got in a fight at school a few weeks ago. Oh, and I skipped out on a final because I was too high to come to school, so I slept with my math teacher and now I have the highest grade in class." Neji paused to take a breath, "Am I missing anything guys?"

When no one answered him, and Neji could see through his grandfather's eyes that he was at his breaking point. He grabbed Tenten's hand and dragged her along. "Come on Tenten, let's go have sex."

 **A/N: This one was fun to write! Drop a review please! I'm working on the next chapter as soon as I post this one, so it should be up by tomorrow!**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Tenten

Neji dragged Tenten through the halls of Hyuga Corporations' first floor. They passed ballroom after ballroom after ballroom. Tenten wasn't sure where he was taking her, all she knew was that Neji might have just cracked, and now he was forcing her through the unfamiliar building with the intent of getting laid somewhere.

"Neji, stop. You're hurting me!" She finally called out to him after his grip on her wrist became unbearable.

He stopped. "Sorry."

His grip on her arm lessened, but he still held her tight. They made their way to the elevators where he finally let go of her, just to push the button on the panel for the highest floor in the building. The elevator jerked upward, and with that, Neji's hold was back on Tenten.

He grabbed her waist and pushed her up against the wall. His kisses were rough. Primal. All he wanted was to get his mind off of what just happened. His fingertips dug into her sides, forcing her upwards. He found the slit in the side of Tenten's dress and pushed the fabric up her legs. Out of instinct, Tenten wrapped her legs around Neji's waist, and her arms around his neck. She may not have liked how he was kissing her, but he was still kissing her. His tongue found entrance and she found herself unable to resist his ministrations. As her dress was hitched higher and higher up her legs, she became very aware of what was really going on.

She broke free of his kiss and ordered, "Neji, stop!"

He pulled away from her lips and stared into her eyes. He slowly let her down off the wall, and back onto the floor of the elevator. "Goddammit!" He banged the wall behind her with the side of his fist.

"It's okay," she said taking his hand. "That guys just a big stupid jerk. Don't let him get to you."

Neji almost grinned at her choice of names for his grandfather, but he didn't. "I can't help it…he's always been able to get inside my head like that."

"But you shut him down. He didn't know what to do after you said all that."

"I don't even know why I said it."

Tenten caressed Neji's cheek, forcing him to look at her. "Isn't that what you wanted though? Your entire plan was to come here and make sure everyone knew what you were like, and to have Hinata and Naruto be the ones to get you and everyone else under control. So she could prove to her father that if she can control her friends, then she can control a company."

"I didn't expect _him_ to show up…"

"I know…" Tenten didn't know what else to say. She didn't know the entire familial situation between Neji, his grandfather and the rest of his family, so how could she make the issue better.

He ran his hand through his hair in exasperation, trying to get a hold of himself. The elevator came to a stop and the doors behind Neji opened, but neither one of them moved the get out.

"If I didn't stop you just now, would you have kept going..?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Because I want to have sex with you."

"That's it? That's all you want to do with me?" she asked, a little concerned to hear his answer.

"Yes…No…No, that's not all."

He stared at her for what seemed like a million moments. Then again, he punched the wall behind her. She didn't flinch. "I don't know what's wrong with me!"

"What makes you think something's wrong with you, Neji?" she asked.

"I swore to myself I'd never fall in love again, and now look what happened!"

Tenten's eyes went wide. There's no way he just said what she heard him say. No. No. No. Neji Hyuga did not say these things. He slept with pretty girls and that was the end of it. "You don't mean that."

"Yes I do, Tenten. I'm so in love with you I-"

He paused to think of what to say next, "You know, I haven't had sex since the party at the lake house?"

All she could muster was, "why?"

"Because I can't stop thinking about you."

Tenten wanted to jump him right there. She wanted to push him up against the wall and make out with him until they were done making love on the floor of the elevator. He loved her. He really, truly loved her. And all she did was stand there like an idiot.

He continued, "I haven't felt this way about anyone since Mika, but with you, I feel so much more. God I sound like an idiot!"

"No you don't." They sank down to take a seat on the floor. She still held his hand, but there was a distance between them that felt much further than mere inches.

"I don't do this…"

"I know, but you have before, and I'm never going to hurt you the way Mika did. Ever."

He closed the distance between them and this time, she gladly accepted the gentle kisses against her lips. He pulled away and said, "I don't want to talk about her."

"You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to. Not until you're ready."

"Will you tell me about your ex? The one in the pictures?"

"When I'm ready, yes."

They rode the elevator back down to the main floor is silence. Tenten knew that they weren't officially boyfriend and girlfriend, and that was okay. Neji has a lot of issues he needs to work out before he can make a real commitment to her.

They reentered the ballroom that the party was being held in and immediately all eyes were on them. A lot of people had overheard Neji and his grandfather's conversation, and since their exit, most likely everyone knew what happened.

Tenten caught sight of her father, who looked extremely disappointed in her. Their friends came up to them slowly.

Naruto was the first to speak, "what happened?"

"Nothing," Tenten replied.

"We just walked around for a bit," Neji added.

They knew they were telling the truth.

"Father's angry," Hinata mumbled.

"So am I," all eyes turned to see Neji's mom, arms crossed, looking unhappier than she had ever been before. "Kids, go home."

No one dared to argue with Hiyeri, they all exited the premises, feet dragging behind them. Neji and Tenten were the only two to stay behind. "Mom, I can explain."

"You don't have to," she sighed. "Not about what happened between you and your grandfather. But I do want to know why the hell you thought coming here, with a plan like that was in anyway a good idea? And are you high, Neji? Jesus Christ, what were you thinking!?"

"I-"

"Not here," she barked. "Give me your keys, I'm taking you home. Tenten, your father is waiting for you outside in the parking lot."

She nodded, slightly ashamed of what things her father might say to her on the way home. He's probably regretting his decision to send her to public school. Especially since Neji just revealed his true self to the entire company, its investors, his family, his friends, and whoever else might have been in attendance.

 _My daughter's dating a freak,_ were probably the words going through his head right now.

She followed Neji and his mother through the halls and to the front entrance of the building. Sure enough, her father was waiting with the car. "Tenten," he said sternly. "Let's go."

Her lips flat lined as she fought off anything she might want to say at the moment. It was better to keep her mouth shut in situations like this. "I'll see you later, Neji," she said before climbing into the passenger side of her father's car.

"So that's the boy you've been hanging out with recently?" he asked, anger evident in his voice. "When you told me that it was Neji Hyuga you've been spending all your time with lately, I was quite excited…I thought, 'finally, a kid with discipline and a bright future ahead of him.' I was wrong. I don't want you seeing him anymore, Tenten."

"That's not your choice."

"Excuse me, daughter, but it is. I'm your father, and if I don't think it's appropriate for you to be seeing someone, I can tell you not to."

"That's not fair. You're judging him based on what happened tonight…none of which is any of your business. You don't even know him."

"I know kids just like him that end up in prison. I deal with kids like him every day…kids going down the wrong path because they don't have anyone to support them."

Tenten glared at her father and thought carefully about what to say next. She was already probably going to be in huge trouble, what's a few more weeks of punishment, right? She went for it, "No offense dad, but fuck you. Neji's mom is a single parent because her husband was killed in a car accident when Neji was four. You know he watched his dad die? He went to therapy for that and then in middle school, he tried to kill himself because his uncle made him stop. Something about how the heir to the company shouldn't be seen leaving a councilors office."

"And how do you know all of this?"

"Because he told me!"

"While you were having sex with him somewhere in the building?"

"Neji and I didn't have sex. We just talked. He needed to cool down."

He laughed, "That's an understatement."

"You don't even know him…"

"You already said that. I don't care to know him. If he's getting my daughter into drugs, that is unacceptable. He is not allowed near you again, do you understand me? You need to break up with him."

"He's not getting me into drugs. I've been smoking pot since middle school, dad. And Neji and I aren't dating so there's nothing to end. But I'm not going to stop seeing him…I really like him, Dad."

"I don't care if you really like him. He is not the right guy for you. If he's been with as many girls as he's said he has, I honestly don't know why you still want to pursue him."

He made a good point, and if he had told her the same thing three weeks ago, she probably would have agreed. But Neji was changing, and it was obvious to everyone in their group of friends. He was doing things for her that he hadn't done for anybody since Mika. And he did just admit to her that he was in love with her. That had to count for something, right?

Neji

Neji climbed in the passenger side of his car while his mother took over the driver's side. They rode in silence until they came to the first stop light. Hiyeri sighed loudly. "Your uncle and grandfather are very upset with you, Neji."

"I figured they would be."

"I know you probably planned for something like this to happen, why else would you agree to come tonight? But this wasn't the way to do it…not in front of everyone our family's in business with. This looks so bad to them Neji. They all believe you to be the next in charge, and now they don't think their investments in the company is where they should be putting their money."

"We just wanted Hiashi to realize that Hinata was a better fit than I would be."

"Well that's not what happened." The light turned green, and for the rest of the ride to Neji's, neither of them spoke.

Hiyeri pulled into the garage, but no one moved to exit the car. "But I did hear what your grandfather said about my raising you…thank you for defending me."

Neji smiled softly. He wasn't getting in trouble for this, Hiyeri didn't like her late husband's father either. Neji wasn't even sure the man's own wife and kids liked him.

"But you and I do need to have a conversation about the other things you said. That can wait until morning."

"Okay. Can I go to bed? I'm really tired."

"Soon sweetie." Hiyeri unlocked the door to get into the house and let her son walk through first. She closed the door and locked it again. "We need to talk about Tenten first."

"Why?" he asked, confused.

"Are you sleeping with her?"

He stared at his mother, "No."

"Are you planning on sleeping with her?"

Neji shrugged, "probably eventually."

"Are you dating?"

Neji looked away from his mother's gaze. He was ashamed in himself for betraying his promise to never fall in love again. He had no problem talking to his mother about any of the other girls he's slept with, so why was just talking about dating Tenten so damn hard for him? "Not yet."

She smiled. "Tenten's a nice girl. I'm glad it's her you want to be with and not one of those other girls I've ran into on many unfortunate occasions."

"I feel like I'm broken," Neji admitted, collapsing onto the couch.

"What do you mean?" Hiyeri asked concerned. She joined her son on the couch and put a gentle hand on his knee. "Tell me what's going through your head right now."

Neji took a deep breath. "Why do I do what I do? It's not normal for a high school guy to have slept with this many girls…and it's not like I did any of this before I dated Mika? I keep telling myself that everything is her fault, but she's not even in my life anymore, and I still feel like she's controlling me!"

His mom was at a loss for words. She always knew that it was his break up with Mika that cause him to spiral out of control, but he was finally admitting it to himself. "She doesn't control you Neji. Mika is far away and she's not coming back anytime soon. You need to let yourself move on and find happiness with someone else, or, even better, find happiness with just yourself. You don't need to be with a girl to be happy. Painting makes you happy, your friends make you happy."

Neji's mom took notice to her son snapping the rubber bands against his wrist. A technique his therapist taught him many years ago to avoid cutting himself whenever he felt like he needed to. She grabbed his hand.

"Tenten makes me happy."

She stared at him. The snapping of the rubber bands ceased the moment those words left his lips.

"I want to be with her, but I don't know if I know how anymore."

She laughed, not at him, but because it was such a simple question with such a complicated answer. "The simplest answer I can give you is to not do what made you so unhappy in your relationship with Mika. Take things slow, and don't pressure each other into anything you don't want to do."

"You know I'm not one for taking things slow, and Tenten and I have both done just about everything, so there isn't really anything we don't want to do…"

"That isn't necessarily true, Neji. Choosing to do something with someone you love is a lot different than just doing it because you've done it before. Every relationship is different. Now, I don't know anything about Tenten's past relationships, but like you, she's probably been through a lot in her life, some things she might wish it happened in a different way or not at all. She might also want a repeat in other things. But you still need to respect her wishes and your own. You might find that something she likes isn't what you like, and wise versa."

He stopped her, "Mom, I don't need this to turn into a sex talk."

"I know honey, I just want you to be aware."

"Mom, trust me, I know what I'm doing."

She frowned in disapproval of her sons previous actions with women.

"I need to confess something to you…but you have to promise me that you won't do anything about it, and won't tell uncle, okay?"

She feared for what Neji might tell her, but she knew she needed to respect his privacy. "Go on, I won't judge or tell anyone. I promise."

He took a deep breath. "Everything I told Grandfather was true…the drugs, the partying, the drinking, the teachers…everything."

"I know."

He stared at her in disbelief. "How?"

"I'm not stupid Neji. Honestly, you not very good at sneaking around…I always hear you leave in the middle of the night, or sneak whomever it is up to your room. I can tell when you're hungover, or high…you're also kind of a bad liar."

"I'm not a bad liar!"

"You are when it comes to lying to your mother! Mom's know everything."

He sighed. He felt completely defeated. He was tired. His anger from the night had simmered to a small irritation, and he's finally calmed down emotionally enough to think straight again, and rationalize his actions. "Can I do to bed now?" he asked.

"Yes, but tomorrow morning we're finishing this conversation. But I need to sleep on what to do about your actions tonight, and I'm sure your uncle will be calling first thing in the morning to voice his opinion."

"As long as he says I don't have to take over the company anymore, I'll be okay."

She glared at him. "Go to bed."

He muttered a goodnight, and headed straight up the stairs to his bedroom. He didn't even check his phone to see if Tenten or any one of his other friends had texted him. All he wanted was to pass out, and pass out he did.

 **A/N: Review!**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Tenten

Tenten's father threw open the door, causing it to slam against the wall. Tenten flinched at the action, and coward behind him as she followed her dad into their house. After Tenten had defended Neji and her relationship with the Hyuga enough to shut up her dad, he then went on a rant about how smoking pot was so horrible, and he's never been more disappointed in her in his life.

"What the hell is going on?" Tenten's mother asked coming down the stairs in her bathrobe. "It's almost midnight, don't you have any consideration for those sleeping?"

"Sorry Hun, but our daughter has lost it." He held up his hand and put up his thumb and pointer finger, "I am _this_ close to pulling her out of school completely and getting a private tutor, or sending her to boarding school!"

Her mom looked to Tenten questioningly, then back to her husband, "What happened?"

The three of them moved into the living room. Tenten sat on the couch and her mother sat on the love seat to Tenten's left. Tenten gave her mom the run down, trying to leave out as much as possible, but it was hard with her father filling in every detail she purposefully left out. Tenten knew her father was overreacting, and that her mother wouldn't really give a shit about any of this.

"Well, as much as I disagree with our daughter doing drugs, I really don't see an issue with her being in a relationship with Neji," her mom told her father.

"We're not in a relationship…" Tenten mumbled under her breath, but neither of her parents heard her.

"How can you not!?" her father yelled. "He's out of control! He's a bad influence on her! He's absolutely _not_ the one for her! Do you know how many _women_ he's been with? What's going to be any different about Tenten?"

Tenten rolled her eyes as her father continued to list off all the things he thought was wrong with Neji. She was growing impatient and tired. If she was getting punished, she'd wish they'd just do it already so she could go to bed. She watched her mom carefully as her father voiced all his opinions on the situation. Her mom looked just as irritated as Tenten felt.

Tenten's mom listened intently to her husband's opinions, and occasionally sent her daughter an annoyed glance, which only made Tenten laugh internally. "I hear you darling, and I understand all of your concerns, but ultimately we don't have any control. Tenten's going to date whomever she wants no matter what we say. And Neji's a nice boy."

"You don't know him like I do!" her father expressed. "He will ruin our daughter's life!"

"Oh my God, Dad!" Tenten yelled at him, "Mom knows him better than you do! She actually talked to him! All you did was listen to an argument he had with his grandfather and based on that you formed a completely false opinion!"

"He's just playing with you."

"No he's not."

"Tenten, you're blinded by his charms. Kids like him do that, and as soon as he has your love and trust, he will break your heart. I don't want you getting hurt."

Her mother was getting angry, "You can't think that you can prevent our high school daughter from ever getting her heart broken now, can you?"

"I can try!"

Her mom laughed, "I love you, but there's no way you can prevent that. It's all part of life."

"I know that," he tried to defend himself, "But I can control who breaks her heart and it's not going to be Neji Hyuga!"

Tenten and her mother both rolled their eyes.

Her father took a seat on the coffee table in front of Tenten and looked her directly in the eye. "Sweet heart, Neji is the kind of person to make you feel so safe that you will want to have sex with him…and as soon as you do, he'll break up with you. Now, don't you want your first time to be with someone you love and who loves you back just as much, when your adults?"

Tenten and her mother glanced at each other, hopefully not revealing to her father that she and her mother knew something that he didn't. Tenten sighed, not wanting to argue about this anymore. "I fucked your intern."

He stared at her. She thought he had gone into shock, but another look at her father's face told her that he was trying not to explode. "What?" was all her could muster.

Her mother placed a gentle hand her on husbands shoulder and treaded lightly, "Honey, let Tenten go to bed, you and I can talk about this on our own."

He shrugged the hand off his shoulder and frowned at Tenten, "what did you say?"

"I fucked your intern. I know you've had a lot of them, so Sotaru to be exact."

"Don't even joke about that."

"I'm not joking. Sotaru and I dated. I loved him, so I had sex with him…multiple times. And remember the guys with tattoos and piercings you didn't approve of? Yeah, I slept with them too after Sotaru and I broke up."

She paused to see if he would yell at her. When he didn't, she went on, "So I'm not a virgin, and you can't prevent me from being with Neji."

Before either of her parents could say anything else, she stood up and said, "I'm going to bed."

Her dad tried to argue with her but her mom stopped him and nodded to her daughter, giving Tenten permission to leave the conversation. Tenten stomped up the stairs to her bedroom. Through a crack in the door she could hear her parents arguing from downstairs.

 _"_ _She's a minor!"_ That was her dad, obviously. _"He should be in jail!"_

Tenten wasn't too worried about the issue. She and her mom had spent many night talking about her relationship with Sotaru and the other boys she had hooked up with. Her mom would talk down her dad and everything would blow over soon enough.

Her dad might not be able to look her in the eye for a while, but that was a small sacrifice to pay considering how angry her dad was and how much she had gone against his unspoken rules about who she dated.

 _Whatever._

Neji

"This behavior is completely unacceptable! Not only did you make yourself look bad, but you made your grandfather, your mother, myself, and the company look just as bad! I've always known you were a little troubled, but I had no idea you would have ever acted so stupid! I am so disappointed in you Neji. Because of what you and your friends did, we may lose some of our biggest investors! Your grandfather has half a mind to disown you completely, and honestly, I'm not against it. Your father would be so disappointed in you…I just can't believe how bad you've gotten over the years. I've tried everything I can think of to turn you into the perfect gentleman; someone fit to run the family business. Hiyeri has done a wonderful job raising you, and you've completely destroyed all her hard work!"

Neji sat on the couch in his living room while he listened to his uncle go on and on. He was over it. By this point, everything his uncle said was just overkill. It's been two days since the party, and this was the third time Hiashi had been over. His grandfather made an appearance earlier this morning, but didn't really say anything. He was just there to instill fear. His mom gave him a talk twice, and together that made five different times he was just yelled at but never punished. There was a few times where Neji was sure Hiashi was going to take away Neji's heritage to the company, which is what he really wanted, however, he knew that it would take time and a lot of discussion with many other higher ups within the company to come to a final conclusion.

"Uncle, I hear you, I really do, but I've heard the same lecture five times in the past two days. I get it. I've been bad. Hurry up and punish me already."

"I would love to punish you, but unfortunately I don't have that power since I am not your parent."

Neji glanced through the doorframe to the kitchen where his mom was pretending not to eavesdrop on him and his uncle's conversation. Neji wasn't getting punished. No matter how often he'd be grounded or how often he'd get things taken away, he got around them easily. Hiyeri was done.

 _"_ _Eventually karma will catch up to you or you'll do something so incredibly stupid that no one can help you. Then, maybe you'll finally get it,"_ was what she said to him earlier this morning.

 _Thanks mom._

"Whether or not you will continue to be the heir to the company is currently in discussion, and as much as it pains me to give you what you want, you and your friends may have given me no other choice. The faces and investors of Hyuga Corporations are extremely cautious about what you will bring to the table, and honestly, they don't want to risk you destroying everything we've worked so hard to achieve."

"Smart. I'd ruin everything."

Hiashi's eyes narrowed at his comment. "Do I need to remind you that you're on thin ice?"

Neji shrugged, "maybe. I don't think the five lectures I've gotten this weekend have sunk in enough."

"Neji Hyuga!" Hiyeri yelled from the other room. "Watch your tone!"

He clamped his mouth shut.

Hiashi took a seat on the couch across from the one Neji was sitting on and sighed. "When did it go wrong? You used to be such a good kid, Neji. So bright, so talented, so smart…what happened that changed you?"

Now he was getting somewhere.

"Was it your father's death? That teacher?"

"I don't want to talk about that stuff," Neji mumbled.

At that moment, Hiyeri came into the living room and interrupted their conversation. "Neji, go upstairs. I need to talk to Hiashi."

He wanted to argue, but knew that at this point arguing would just dig him a deeper grave to get stuck in. He sighed, stood from the couch and took each step to the second floor as slow as possible. Hiyeri wanted him in his room, but there was no way he was going to do that.

Neji reached the landing on the second floor and slid down the wall, out of sight, but not out of earshot.

"I know you're looking to blame someone for all this," Hiyeri began, "but what good will that do?"

"I'm just trying to understand. When Neji was little he had a lot of emotional issues, but they were manageable. He was okay for a long time, then all of a sudden everything fell apart. What happened that I don't know about?"

Hiyeri didn't respond right away. Neji figured she was trying to decide what she should and shouldn't tell her brother in law. "If you must blame someone, blame Mika."

"Mika? What does she have to do with anything? She was so sweet."

Neji didn't hear a response.

"What happened?" Hiashi asked, finally getting it.

"The short version…she destroyed him."

Neji didn't want to hear anymore. He knew that his mom was telling his uncle everything that happened. Everything from the drugs, to the partying and sex to the cheating and mental breakdown. He was sure she was telling Hiashi about how all of that led to the many times she caught him with a different girl in his bed, the times she came home to one of her son's teacher's cars in the driveway and all the times Neji came home high or wasted.

Neji walked carefully down the hallway and to his bedroom, careful of the creaky floorboards. He closed his door as softly as possible. His mom was probably crying now; telling Hiashi that she didn't know what else she could do…she's tried everything: therapy, medication, hospitalization…the list goes on. Hiyeri was out of options.

So was he.

 **A/N: Review!**


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Tenten

Neji wasn't in school for the entire week following the events of the Hyuga Corporations' business party. It was like someone in their group of friends had died. They didn't talk to anyone, and they only talked to each other when the silence at lunch became unbearable. It was Friday, and still nobody knew what the hell was going on with Neji.

"Hiashi seriously hasn't told you anything?" Ino asked Hinata who responded by shaking her head solemnly.

Tenten picked at her food, she wasn't hungry much lately.

"And you don't know anything either?"

Tenten looked up from her plate of food and smiled sadly at the blond girl.

"What the hell!?" Naruto questioned, uncharacteristically quiet. "It's like he's dead! He doesn't answer my texts or anything."

"I'm afraid to just show up at his house…" Sasuke mumbled.

"Don't do that," Hinata advised.

"Hiashi didn't send him to boarding school or anything drastic like that, right?" Sakura half joked.

"No, he's at home, that's for sure." Hinata replied. "At least…his cars in his driveway."

"You don't think…" Tenten began but couldn't get herself to finish her thought out loud.

"What?" Lee asked.

"I was just thinking…he was really…when he dragged me away from the party after everything went down...he was really bad."

"Bad how?" Shikamaru asked.

She thought for a moment before saying the words, "you don't think maybe he's in the hospital again?"

Nobody said anything.

"That's what I was afraid of…"

Hinata answered Tenten, "no, I don't think that's what's going on. If he didn't tell us in the group chat that's what was happening, then he definitely would have told me or you so we wouldn't worry."

"I guess…" Tenten mumbled while picking up her chopsticks and continuing to play with her food.

"Neji's not usually the type to leave us all in the dark." Sasuke attempted to console, "he's probably just recovering from the riot act from Hiashi…he's almost as scary as Hiyeri, but I honestly doubt Hiyeri lost her shit on Neji for longer than ten minutes. She knows there's no hope for him."

Sakura elbowed him in the ribs, hard. "Don't say shit like that! Neji's fine, and he'll be back at school Monday, I don't doubt it."

"I hate to say it," Naruto began, "but Sasuke has a point…Neji just keeps getting worse. He's almost completely out of control."

There was a loud, snort of a laugh that came from beside their table. Everyone turned to see Kiba, eavesdropping on their conversation. "You got that right. Hyuga's so fucking messed up, I'm actually shocked he hasn't killed himself yet. His actions just scream 'hurting.' Not to mention, those scars on his wrists are pretty obvious."

Both Naruto and Sasuke jumped up from the seats so fast that their chairs flew into the table next to theirs and collapsed loudly on the tile floor of the cafeteria.

"Say that again, I fucking dare you," Naruto challenge.

At that, the entire lunch room silenced and turned their attention towards the ruckus.

"Come on," Kiba rolled his eyes, "you can't deny anything I just said. Hyuga's fucked up man. He sleeps with everyone, including teachers. He's high more often than he's sober, and he party's every weekend. And come on guys, everyone knows he was in the car when his dad checked out."

The other students in the cafeteria had gone back to eating their lunches and talking with their friends. Nothing they didn't already know was being discussed. They lost interest. The lunch room silenced again when a loud crack echoed off the wall.

Students turned to see Kiba on the floor, blood gushing from his nose and Sasuke with a clenched fist. Kiba's friends were at his side in seconds, helping him back on his feet.

"Listen here you fucking mutt." Sasuke grumbled through clenched teeth. "You don't know shit about Neji, so the next time you want to gossip about my best friend, keep your fucking mouth shut."

Kiba was back on his feet. "Or what?" he challenged.

"Or you'll get a lot more than a broken nose," Naruto threatened.

"Like what?" Kiba spit a mouthful of blood onto the floor.

"Ask your slut girlfriend. I overheard her and her stupid friends talking today about how she missed her period. She should probably get that checked out, because you and everyone else knows that if she's pregnant that kid is Neji's, and even if you still haven't fucked her, she'll swear on her grave that that kid is yours and you can kiss any soccer scholarship to college away. You'll spend the rest of your life at some shitty dead end job trying to provide for a kid that's not yours and a wife that cheats on you."

Everyone knew that Naruto was just trying to get a rise out of Kiba. There was no way Myru was pregnant, and there was no way Naruto could overhear that conversation. His threat worked. Kiba shut down.

"Okay, that's enough," Kakashi sensei said coming up behind Kiba. "Shino, take Kiba to the nurses office. Sasuke, Naruto you're coming with me."

The two of them gathered their things and followed Kakashi down the hall to Principal Tsunade's office.

"Emo freaks," Kiba mumbled as they passed him in the doorway.

They both lost it. Naruto and Sasuke jumped him and the entire lunchroom was on their feet, running towards the commotion to watch the fight. Sakura and Hinata pushed their way through the crowd to get their boyfriends to calm down.

"Knock it off, Sasuke!" Sakura grabbed him by the waist and pulled in off of Kiba.

Hinata tried to do the same, but Naruto just shook her off. Sasuke was able to get free from Sakura's grasp easily and was right back to beating the shit out of Kiba. He put up a good fight. He was able to defend himself and land a few hits on both Naruto and Sasuke, especially with the help of jock friends that got involved.

The fight proved to be too much for just Kakashi to handle, and Gai sensei, Iruka sensei, and Asuma sensei got themselves involved. Gai and Kakashi were able to stop Sasuke and Naruto with the help of Asuma, and Iruka alone was able to stop Kiba's retaliations.

"All of you need to calm down!" Gai ordered. "This is a school. There's no place here for petty arguments turned violent. Settle your differences like adults!"

"This is the second time in a month that your groups have gotten into a fight." Tsunade said coming down the hallway. The bystanders took a step back, anyone with eyes could see that their principal was fuming and one wrong move might result in their own destruction. "I am DONE with your shit!"

Everyone glanced carefully behind Tsunade at the school officers that were coming down the hallways. One of them grabbed Sasuke from Kakashi's grasp and the other grabbed Naruto from Gai. Both of them were placed in handcuffs and dragged through the school to the police cars parked in the school's lot. The entire cafeteria silenced as the police read Naruto and Sasuke their rights and escorted them away.

"What the fuck just happened?" Ino said.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "They got arrested genius. God, they're fucking idiots."

Sakura and Hinata were in tears and Temari and Lee tried their best to comfort them. Tenten didn't know what to do. She just stood there, staring after her two friends.

"I'm dating a criminal!" Sakura sobbed loudly.

"Oh Jesus Christ, forehead!" Ino groaned in annoyance, "he got into a fight…there is absolutely nothing unusual about that."

 _You're all a mess._

Tenten went back to the lunch table to grab her bag and dump her lunch tray. She forced her way through the crowd of students and headed straight for her locker. The halls were empty. She was all alone. She opened her locker and slammed it as loud as she could to vent her anger. She was about to lose her mind when Kurenai sensei came out of her classroom.

"Tenten?" She asked, "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"I'm fine," she replied, "just a lot going on."

"Come on," Kurnai nodded her head towards her empty classroom, "let's talk."

Tenten followed her homeroom teacher through the door and closed it behind her. Kurenai pulled up an extra chair from behind her podium and placed it next to her desk. "You can sit if you'd like."

Tenten took the offer and set her bag down next to her. "Thanks," she mumbled.

"What's going on?" Kurenai sensei asked.

Tenten didn't tell her even close to what the whole story is, but she said what she wanted and what she needed to. She only spoke of the stuff going on in her life, she left Neji out of it. But she had a feeling that her teacher knew that what was going on in her life was connected very closely to what was going on in Neji's.

"I've noticed you've gotten very close with Neji Hyuga."

Tenten brushed a stray hair out of her face and replied, "Yeah, I guess."

"It probably isn't my place to say anything, but I think you need to hear it. Be careful with Neji, okay? He's a good kids, but there's a lot he needs to sort out about his life and how he chooses to live it."

Tenten nodded, understanding exactly what her teacher meant.

"Now I'm not by any means telling you not to be his friend, or even his girlfriend, if you view him that way. Neji is very good at what he does, I think that by hanging out with you, he'll finally be able to get through the hardships he's facing."

Tenten blushed at a few of the words Kurenai chose to say. She didn't know how exactly to respond to what she was saying either. She didn't agree nor disagree with her, but she knew she wanted to be with Neji, whether it was just as friends for now, or his girlfriend down the road…maybe after he figured his shit out? She didn't think that she would be able to change Neji, not even a little bit, she did know he was capable of loving someone again, and by the words he spoke to her in the elevator at the party…he loved her.

"Thank you Kurenai sensei," Tenten said standing up from her seat when the bell signaling the end of lunch rang throughout the building. "I really needed that."

"Of course. Come in and talk anytime, Tenten."

She nodded.

"Oh, one more thing." Tenten paused her escape to listen. "I'm glad you were able to find good friends here, and I'm glad it was that group. They needed you."

Tenten grinned. "I didn't know it at first, but I needed them too."

 **A/N: This is one of those chapters where I had planed from the very beginning to include a specific line, but I had no idea where to put it and how to build from it. Well, I really like how this chapter turned out. I have not edited or even reread this, so please forgive the probable many errors. Don't forget to review!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

 **Neji**

The text from Naruto read: _Where the fuck have you been?_

Neji didn't feel like replying to anyone for the rest of his life. Aside from being completely shut in, by order of his childhood therapist, he felt like he was shutting everyone out in return. After his mom had broken down in front of Hiashi about not knowing how to help her son, Hiashi finally realized that there might be something emotionally wrong with his nephew and suggested that Hiyeri get in touch with Neji's old therapist to ask for advice.

From what Hiyeri described, and from talking to Neji over the phone, the therapist concluded that Neji was no danger to himself or others, but thought it to be a good idea to take a break from everything. That included school, internet, cell phones, basically any connection to his friends. Even though his friends weren't the problem.

Hiyeri made a judgement call and decided that ostracizing Neji from his phone and the internet wasn't something that needed to be done. Staying home from school for a week was good enough for her.

Neji wasn't bored per say…he got a lot of paintings done, he worked on homework he had been neglecting for a while, and he had a lot of time to reflect on things. He was getting a little tired of having to watch a movie with his mom every night, and having her ask if he was okay every five minutes.

Anytime he came down the stairs with a long sleeve on she'd jump on him real fast and demand that he roll up his sleeves. He wasn't cutting himself again. She was just being overly cautious. _Sorry for being cold mom…you're forgetting it's the middle of fucking winter._

He knew he should probably let his friends know what was going on, considering he wasn't at school all week and they were texting him quite a bit asking why. Neji didn't feel like talking to anyone.

The one person he actually wanted to talk to was probably banned from seeing or talking to him ever again. He had gotten a few texts from Tenten, one that said, _"My dad found out about the older guy. Shits hitting the fan right now. Are you okay?"_ another that said, _"We should probably talk at school, don't you think? Like, about us? Or whatever…"_ the most recent one was from the middle of the week, _"When are you coming back to school? We're all worried about you."_ He ignored them all.

He wanted to talk to her…he wanted to kiss her…he wanted to hold her…he wanted to push her on his bed and peel off her skinny jeans and make love to her. That was a weird thought for Neji…he hadn't loved someone since Mika. He refused to love anybody ever again, but he couldn't get rid of those feelings he had for Tenten. She was driving him crazy…in a good way.

He hated that he was comparing what he used to feel for Mika to what he currently felt for Tenten. They were two completely different people. Mika was a psycho bitch and Tenten was not…Tenten was perfect. But he didn't know how else to explain it to himself. He wanted to kiss her in the middle of the dance floor at a party, he wanted to go down on her in the backseat of his car, he wanted to dedicate an entire sketchbook to her and "accidentally" leave it somewhere for her to find. He felt like if he didn't paint on her stomach and have her post online about how their relationship was better than everybody else's he would die. But Tenten wasn't like that. Posting about her personal life and going for a quickie out in public wasn't Tenten's style.

 _But what else do you do in a real relationship?_ Neji groaned at the realization that he had absolutely no idea how to be in a relationship with Tenten. With Mika, she controlled just about everything…what they did, how they did it, when they did it. Tenten wasn't going to demand things from him, or tell him how to do things…he was supposed to know these things by now. But all Neji knew was sex.

He would have sent his questions to the group chat that was for just the guys in their group, but he was still extremely focused on avoiding them. He rolled over to stare at the colorful ceiling above him. His timeline of sorts. Not a single bit of white showed through the paint, but his masterpiece was nowhere near finished. The reds and purples of the exploding nebulas plucked at his heartstrings every time he as little as glanced at his ceiling. He realized for the first time since starting his painting that the negativity overshadowed the good things. He had good things happen in his life too, right? Maybe not as many bad things, or maybe the good things weren't significant enough.

Being born was cool, being what his teachers called a genius was nice, his mom was pretty great, and his dad, his friends, Mika was good for a while, so far Tenten's been wonderful, sex was great, drugs were fun, painting and drawing was awesome. But those were all little things, and a lot of those good things were followed by very bad things, like everything with Mika, and his dad dying, and some of the people he had sex with, and the effects drugs had on him.

There was a knock at his door. "Yeah?" he mumbled.

Hiyeri opened the door slowly and stepped into her son's bedroom. "Have you been checking your phone?" she asked.

"No. I muted everyone."

"Well, Ino called me on Hinata's phone and said they've been trying to get a hold of you. Sasuke and Naruto were arrested at school today."

That got his attention. He sat up fast, "what? Why?"

"They got in a fight with Kiba Inuzuka."

"Did Kiba get arrested too?"

"I don't know, Ino didn't say. Fugaku is working on getting them released, but she said it's looking like they'll probably have to spend the night at the station."

Neji wanted to feel bad for his friends, but he couldn't help but chuckle.

"This isn't funny, Neji!" Hiyeri scolded.

He shrugged, "it kind of is. It was bound to happen sooner or later."

"Well Hinata and Sakura are having a total meltdown. You should be there for them."

Neji lied back down, "my own meltdown is a little more important to me than theirs."

"You've been sitting alone in your room for a week. You've had plenty of time to get a handle on yourself. Right now your friends need you."

"They'll be fine without me until Monday."

"What about Tenten?"

"What about her?" He pulled the covers up to his chin.

"She's kind of your girlfriend, isn't she? You should call her."

"I'll see her on Monday."

"Suit yourself. But if I can offer a bit of advice…don't waste any time. Tenten's a great girl, and if you wait too long you're going to lose her to someone else."

He said nothing.

Hiyeri left him alone.

 **Neji**

Monday came quicker than Neji wanted. He was fine, but that didn't mean he wanted to go back to school and have to explain his absence to his friends and probably a few teachers and nosey classmates. Everyone would probably guess it was due to Hyuga Corporations recent financial hiccup. It wasn't a big hiccup, but it still made the news. Neji wasn't really sure why. According to Hiashi it was only one investor pulling out and he wasn't all that important. They got lucky considering how many people saw the argument between Neji and his grandfather.

Neji drove to school alone that morning, which was unusual for him. He pulled into his normal spot next to Hinata's car. He climbed out to greet the curious eyes of the rest of his friends.

"Nice of you to show up," Shikamaru mumbled through the cigarette hanging from his lips.

Neji looked Sasuke and Naruto up and down. "No ankle bracelet?"

"Fuck you," Sasuke glared.

"Yeah! It was because of you we got arrested anyways!" Naruto yelled.

"I didn't tell you to fight Kiba."

Nobody said anything for a moment. Tenten was leaned over the trunk of Hinata's car waiting patiently for the argument to stop. She looked annoyed, or relieved…it was hard to tell for sure.

Neji continued, "how was spending the night in the slammers? Either of you get it up the ass?"

That only earned him some very intense glares from Naruto and Sasuke, and a grin from Lee and Shikamaru.

"Don't even give us that shit," Naruto argued, "you went fucking AWOL for an entire week. We deserve an explanation before you get one."

Neji began his strides out of the parking lot and into the building. Everyone followed. "I don't need an explanation. You got in a fight with Kiba, which is nothing out of the ordinary, and you spent the night at the police station and got off Scott free because Sasuke's dad is the chief of police."

From the corner of his eye he saw Tenten creep up beside him. She didn't say anything.

"Well maybe you don't need one," said Ino, "but we all want to know what the fuck you were doing all last week."

"I wasn't doing anything."

"We figured you were under house arrest," Lee began, "but we didn't think that meant no school as well."

"Hiyeri's really cracking down," Sasuke said.

"And what was your punishments for spending the night in a cell with the drug dealers?" Neji asked the two juvenile delinquents behind him.

"Stop avoiding giving us an explanation," Naruto scolded.

Neji stopped in his tracks, blocking the doors for anyone that wanted to get in the school. He stared at Naruto for half a second, then said, "long story short, my mom cried, Hiashi finally backed the fuck off, nobody knows how to get me to stop being me and there was a therapist involved."

Nobody said anything. They knew not to when it came to Neji's mentality. Neji could tell that Tenten wanted to say something, but she held her tongue, and he was grateful. He'd give her a better explanation when they were alone.

They entered the school very quietly. They made it to the main hallway and Naruto was the first to speak, "I'm grounded for probably the rest of my life, and I have to clean the entire house until mom says it's good enough. I think dads going to make me fix some stuff but he's way more forgiving than mom…"

"You got off easy," Sasuke said, "I'm not allowed to do anything but homework. It's been two days and I've never been so far ahead in my classes since I gave a shit. Nobody's allowed to come over and I can't go anywhere…I'm going to be so sexually frustrated…FUCK!"

"Relax," said Sakura, "we have eight hours at school every day to do whatever you want."

Everyone stared at Sasuke's girlfriend, judgingly. "Don't be a whore," Ino ridiculed.

Neji wasn't one to judge, he's done everything and more with just about every girl in school in every bathroom stall and every broom closet. Even a few classrooms. "Try Genma Sensei's classroom through lunch and sixth period. He leaves every day to eat with his wife and kids."

"Why the fuck do you know that?" Ino asked.

"He's Myru's homeroom teacher."

"Don't tell Kiba that…" Temari mumbled.

The warning bell rang and everyone said a quick, "see you at lunch," and scattered. Tenten stayed behind.

"You're going to be late for homeroom," he said.

"So are you." She was referring to the fact that they had the same homeroom teacher. "Kurenai Sensei won't mind if we're a little late."

Students rushed past them, but Neji didn't care. He strolled down the hall, Tenten at his side, with Tenten's locker as the destination in mind. He knew her well enough to know that she actually liked to use her locker, unlike most students.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Promise."

"I texted you."

"I saw."

They arrived at Tenten's locker, and she opened it, not to get anything, but to fill the silence between them.

"So you know about my dad then…that he knows?"

Neji nodded.

"I'm not grounded or anything…My mom talked him down quite a bit. She also convinced him to let me keep seeing you."

Neji's heart skipped a beat. But he just had to ruin it, because he was him, "We're not together Tenten. Stop acting like we are."

She frowned up at him, and slammed her locker door shut, momentarily gaining the attention of the other students passing by.

She grabbed Neji by the zipper of his jacket and held him in place while she rose to her toes and pressed her lips gently to his. He kissed her back by taking hold of her hips and pulling her closer to him.

When she pulled away, her immediate words were, "shut the fuck up Neji. We've been together since you told me you were in love with me. And if we're as much in love with each other as we say we are then there is absolutely no reason we shouldn't be together."

He opened his mouth to argue some bullshit about how he didn't date or how he wouldn't date because Mika fucked him up so bad, but Tenten cut him off.

"Stop. Don't argue with me, don't try to make up an excuse about why we can't be together, and don't brush off your feelings. You've been doing that for too long and you need to let yourself be happy for once in your life."

As a defense mechanism, he chuckled, then challenged, "What makes you think you can make me happy."

She glared at him and answered, "Because I'm not Mika."

"How do you know about her?" he asked, shocked that her name had come up.

"Ino told me…and the way you act, I figured someone really fucked you up, but I knew it couldn't have been the teacher because you don't care about her and you talk about her openly."

"How much did Ino tell you?"

"Just her name and that she was your girlfriend."

Neji got very quiet. The bell signaling the start of homeroom rang, but neither he nor Tenten heard it. She stared at him while he stared at the floor. "You don't have to tell me everything right away. But I want to tell you about Sotaru, I'm ready to. I love you Neji."

He finally tore his eyes away from the floor to look at Tenten, to really look at her. She was so beautiful, absolutely perfect. Nothing could stop him from kissing her again and whispering a soft 'I love you too' against her lips.

 **A/N: Sorry its been so long everyone, I started college and have had absolutely zero time to do anything. Hopefully now that I've gotten into a routine I'll be able to update more! Love you all!**

 **Don't forget to review!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

 **Tenten**

"So you're like, officially together now?"

"Mmhmm."

"And you're like, okay with everything he's done?"

"That was the past, Ino."

"If the past was two days ago…Tenten, I love you, and I love Neji, and I absolutely think the two of you should be together forever and get married and have cute babies, but don't you think he still has a lot of issues to work out before you commit yourself completely?"

Tenten glared at her from under her bangs, sighed then replied, "First of all, you're getting ahead of yourself. Neji and I are a long ways away from babies and getting married. Second, yeah Neji still has some stuff to work out, but he's getting through it, and I have my own shit to work out too, it's not just him."

"I know I know, but not even a month ago Neji was sleeping with other girls. Aren't you afraid of him _still_ sleeping with other girls?"

Tenten didn't think that this was the best conversation to be having in the library during their open hour. There were curious ears all around them, and Tenten didn't want the entire junior class knowing her business.

"He's not a cheater, Ino," Tenten whispered.

Ino leaned back in her seat, crossed her arms across her chest and blew her bangs away from her face. "Have you fucked yet?"

"Ino! We're at school!"

"So yes?"

"No! We haven't!"

"Now that's unusual for Neji…honestly I'm surprised he didn't fuck you on your first day."

"He said it was because I was still a virgin."

"But you're not a virgin."

"He knows that now."

"Hasn't stopped him before."

"Can we please stop talking about this?"

"No way!" Ino shouted. "I need to know everything. Like, has he told you about Mika yet? Because I'm dying to know about that. Also, when are you going to tell him you love him? Because you obviously already do. And-"

"Ino stop!" Tenten scolded. "You're overwhelming me."

"Sorry, sorry. I just want to know."

"Well it's none of your business…"

"Oh yes it is. You're one of my best friends, and because we're best friends you have to tell us everything. It's girl code."

Tenten wasn't a huge fan of Ino's logic, but it was whatever. She kind of agreed on some level…if it was any of her friends she'd want to know about what was going on in their relationships. However, all of her friends were very open about their sex lives, drug usage, etcetera…Tenten wasn't. Unless it was with Neji. She felt like she could tell him anything and everything.

Ino was about to ask another much too personal question, when they were interrupted by the laughter of the rest of their friends coming up the spiral staircase in the middle of the room, coffee in hands. Sakura handed Ino her order and Hinata handed Tenten hers.

"What'd we miss?" Sakura asked pulling out a chair next to Tenten.

"Tenten and Neji haven't fucked yet."

"Ino!" Tenten scolded.

"What? You didn't want them to know?"

"I told you we were done talking about this!"

"You have to tell us everything," Sakura joined in, "girl code."

Tenten rolled her eyes. Hinata giggled.

"Where's Temari?" Tenten asked, frantically trying to change their topic of conversation.

Ino waved her hand back and forth, "she had to make up a test or something. Sakura, how's life with a boyfriend under house arrest?"

"Awful. I never thought it'd be this hard to spend this much time away from him."

Ino frowned. "You literally see him every day."

"But not as much!" Sakura defended, "he's not allowed to leave his house, and I can't go over there…the lack of physical contact is making me crazy."

Ino said aloud what everyone else was thinking, "That is so sad."

"Tenten," Hinata began, "have you and Neji gotten to hang out since making it official?"

"Yeah, every day this week."

"And you haven't banged yet!?" Sakura whispered loudly. "What could you possibly be doing otherwise?"

"Homework, watch movies, draw each other…"

"That's so sweet," Ino said sarcastically.

"That's what Naruto and I do," Hinata said. "What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing if you're a normal couple, but Neji's not a normal boyfriend. I gotta say, if I was dating a sex god like Neji, I'd be on that the first day."

"Can you please not talk about wanting to bang my boyfriend?," Tenten rolled her eyes.

"You're only bitter about this because you haven't had your ovaries blown in months."

"How do you know it's been that long since I've had sex?"

"Because I know you, and the second you got here, which was three months ago, you've had your eyes on Neji. Generally, when a girl likes a certain boy, they go blind to every other boy that looks their way. And I didn't say sex, I said it's been that long since you've had an orgasm."

Tenten couldn't help but laugh out loud. "If you think I was depriving myself of orgasms while I was single, you're hugely mistaken."

Everyone stared at her, eyes wide.

"What?" Tenten asked.

"You mean like… _masturbation_?" Sakura whispered the word like it was forbidden.

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean. What's the big deal?"

"That's dirty," Ino said. "I love it! I bet your thinking about Neji when you do it too."

Tenten blushed. "Shut up…"

"I don't want to hear about this!" Hinata covered her ears.

"Because we're talking about masturbating or because we're talking about masturbating to Neji?" Ino asked, deviance brightening her gaze.

"Neji!"

Ino bust out laughing. "This is gold!"

Tenten could feel her cheeks getting warmer and warmer.

"Oh relax," Ino said, "it's not a big deal Tenten. We all do it."

"I don't!" Sakura palled.

"How do you not?" Ino asked genuinely shocked and concerned for her friend's probable lack of gratification.

"Because I have a boyfriend!"

"So?" Tenten asked, "So do I, but I still do it."

"That's because you're not having sex with him yet. Sasuke and I do it like, every day."

"Not anymore," Ino mocked.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with doing it every once in a while," Hinata chimed in, "even if you're in a committed relationship. It's not like the guys aren't doing it anyways."

"Sasuke doesn't do that."

Ino and Tenten couldn't hold back their laughter.

"Oh yes he does," Tenten informed. "And he's probably doing it a lot more now that he can't see you outside of school. If he gets to get himself off, why can't you too?"

"Spoken like a true feminist," Ino clapped. "But seriously, Tenten. When are you and Neji gonna do it? I'm dying to hear all about the best sex you'll ever have."

"It'll happen when it happens, chillax."

"Just keep me out of it, please." Hinata mumbled quietly.

"What, you don't want to hear about your cousin banging the life out of Tenten?" Ino heckled.

"Definitely not."

"You need to get laid, pig."

"Trust me forehead, I know. Sai's still playing hard to get, but I will make him mine if it's the last thing I do!"

"Make it quick, because at the rate you're going, soon you're going to want me to film Neji and me."

"I'm not that desperate."

 **Neji**

After school, just like they've done every day since making their relationship official, Tenten went home with Neji. The second Neji pulled his car into the garage and put it in park, Tenten was up, grabbing onto Neji's shirt and pulling in to kiss him.

Neji grabbed Tenten hips and kissed her back. Tenten parted her lips to allow Neji's tongue in. His hand traveled from her hip to the curve of her bottom and gave it a little squeeze, soliciting a moan from Tenten.

She grabbed the arm rest that was causing a barrier between them, and flipped it up. She pulled Neji on top of her, and they continued to make out over the front seats of his car. Tenten shifted to wrap her legs around his waist, but the steering wheel got in the way.

"This isn't working," Neji laughed, then planted a soft kiss to the underside of Tenten's jaw.

"Yeah," She sat up on her elbow, "let's go inside."

He kissed her again, this time on the lips and climbed out of the car. They grabbed their backpacks from the backseat and slung them over their shoulders. Tenten ran around to the other side of the car and jumped into Neji's arms, wrapping her legs around his waist. He then grabbed her butt to support her weight, and they kissed again.

"Why are you so affectionate today?" Neji asked against her lips.

"Because." Kiss. "You're." Kiss. "So." Kiss. "Cute." Kiss. Her kisses trailed across his cheek to his ear. She then bit down gently on the side of his neck and whispered, "Have sex with me."

He froze for the moment his brain was registering that Tenten had actually said those four magical words. She was already unwrapping herself from around Neji and dragging him through the door to the kitchen. Once inside, Neji kicked the door shut behind him and kissed her again. They dropped their bags on the floor, not caring that they were lying in a heap on the middle of the kitchen floor. She continued to drag him through the kitchen to the living room, without breaking their kiss.

He pushed her against the door frame and whispered, "I love you," while she reached to the side to turn on the kitchen lights.

They parted for a moment, just so Tenten could say it back, but before she could get the words to leave her lips, her attention was diverted elseward. Neji noticed her distraction and pulled back. He followed her gaze to the living room where his mother was seated on the couch, across from someone else. A young woman.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Neji asked through gritted teeth.

Hiyeri turned to meet Tenten and Neji's gazes. She smiled sadly at Neji and got off the couch. "I'll let you two talk. Tenten, let's go to the kitchen. You can help me make dinner."

Tenten didn't move. She stared up at Neji, waiting to see what he'd do. As Hiyeri passed them, she grabbed Tenten's arm and pulled her away from Neji and into the kitchen. Neji didn't move.

"Hi, Neji. It's been a long time," the woman on the couch spoke.

Neji's heart pounded against his ribcage. He wasn't sure if it was in anger, fear, or attraction. He never knew for sure with her. He felt his feet begin to move him to the couch; he was fairly sure it was against his will. He sat down, slowly, but didn't say anything.

"Are you going to say anything?" she giggled.

"I don't know what to say." He realized he was staring at the giant diamond ring on her finger. He didn't want to look at it, but he wanted to look at her less.

"You can look at me you know." She could always tell what he was thinking.

"Sorry," he said glancing up cautiously to meet her gaze. She was smiling. His heart pounded faster against his chest. He asked again, "what are you doing here, Mika?"

"I was in town for a few days and I wanted to see you."

"Well I meant it when I said I never wanted to see you again."

Her smile faded. "I know. I still feel terrible."

It was quiet for a while. Neji didn't know what to say. He didn't want to say anything, he just wanted her to leave. But Mika was not one for listening to what other's wanted. At least, not the Mika he remembered.

"That girl…is she your girlfriend?"

"Yes."

"She's pretty."

"Stop trying to make small talk. Why are you here?"

"I…I meant it when I said I wanted to see you. I know we didn't leave things on the best terms, but I'm getting married and I wanted to return some things to you." Mika reached behind her and slid out a large canvas.

"I don't want that back," Neji pressed the moment he realized what it was she was giving back to him. "I painted that for you…"

"I know. Neji, I held onto this for so long because I didn't want to let go of the one thing I had left of you. Deidara was fine with me keeping it, because like you said, you painted it for me, and it's the most beautiful piece of art we have hanging in our apartment. But I can't have my son asking about who painted it when the answer isn't his father."

"You had a baby?"

She nodded. "He's almost one."

"And you're marrying Deidara of all people?"

"I love him."

"That's not what you said when you cheated on me with him."

"Things change Neji. And what about you? Last I heard is that you've been whoring yourself out to any willing female, but I get here and you have a girlfriend."

He glared at her.

Mika sighed, "Okay, it's obvious you don't want me here and we can't be as civil as I thought we could be after two years. So I'm going to leave."

She pushed the large portrait of herself closer to Neji, and he grabbed it. Mika got up off the couch, grabbed her jacket and her purse and let herself out.

Neji wanted nothing more than to stay put and just let her go. But the moment Mika pulled open the front door he was on his feet and chasing after her. He grabbed her arm and pleaded, "Wait."

She spun around to listen to whatever it was he had to say.

Neji put the portrait in her hands and told her, "Please keep it. I don't care what you do with it; burn it, sell it, throw it out, hang it on your wall, I don't care, but I can't take this back."

She smiled softly up at him and replied, "Okay."

Neji wanted to let her leave. He wanted to watch her walk away knowing that he was never going to see her again, but he couldn't pull his hand away from hers. His thumb brushed over the diamond ring.

"It's funny. At one point I thought it'd be you whose ring I'd be wearing whose children I'd be having."

At that, he dropped her hand and let her go. He watched her until her car was out of his driveway and she was speeding down the street. He slammed the door shut and turned around slowly to see Tenten standing in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room.

She approached his carefully and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he whispered. He could taste the lie on his lips as Tenten kissed him.

 **A/N: Let me know what you think!**


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